Telecommunications operator Citic Telecom International is negotiating the acquisition of the 28 percent stake that the Portugal Telecom group owns in Macau telecommunications company Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau (CTM), Portuguese financial daily Diário Económico reported.

The Hong Kong-based company, which already owns 20 percent of CTM but wants to boost its stake in the company, was responsible for talks beginning. In 2011 CTM posted net profit of 933.5 million patacas (US$116 million).

In October the Financial Times reported that Citic Telecom International was negotiating with CTM’s main shareholder – Cable & Wireless Communications – to buy its 51 percent stake in CTM.

“We are in talks with all CTM shareholders, including Portugal Telecom,” the chief executive of Citic Telecom, Norman Yuan, told Diário Económico.

As well as the Portuguese group, Cable & Wireless Communications and Citic Telecom International, the Macau postal service Correios de Macau has a 1 percent stake in CTM. (macauhub)