Luanda, Angola, 21 Dec – Angolan company Portmil is boosting its position in the banking and telecommunications sector, vying for control of Movicel with China’s ZTE.

A source from Movicel told newspaper Novo Jornal that Portmil Investments was already the largest shareholder in the Angolan telecommunications operator, a strategic partner of ZTE, with a slice of 40 percent of the operator’s capital.

Via Movicel’s privatisation process as well as Portmil, Modus Comunicare (19 por percent), Ipang (10 percent), Lambda Investments (6 percent) and Novatel, S.A. (5 percent) took significant stakes in the operator.

The Angolan state also owns 20 percent of the company, via Angola Telecom (18 percent) and Correios de Angola (2 percent).

Movicel plans to migrate its CDMA mobile communications platform to GSM, but in order to do that it needs to investment a significant amount in technology and human resources, which will have to be paid for by shareholders.

According to the Angolan newspaper, recent shareholder changes within Movicel have prevented ZTE from acquiring the 31 percent of the telecommunications operator that it wanted.

According to a ZTE source, after becoming Movicel’s “strategic international partner” and “operating manager” the Chinese multinational company is considering moving out of the Movicel.

Last week Banco Espírito Santo Angola announced the sale of 24 percent of its capital to Portmill Investimentos e Telecomunicações.

This percentage was acquired by the Angolan company for US$375 million, and BES Portugal made a profit on the sale of 180 million euros.

Portmill is the second Angolan institutional partner with a stake in the bank, as GENI already had a s20 percent stake in BESA.(macauhub)