AT&T Said to Explore Deals With Telefonica, Eyeing Europe

AT&T Inc. explored potential deals in the last two months including buying part of Telefonica SA or some of its foreign assets, three people familiar with the situation said.

The second-largest U.S. mobile operator informally approached Spanish authorities to discuss its interest in buying as much as 29.9 percent of Telefonica, and was told such a proposal wouldn’t be welcome, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified as they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. AT&T has also evaluated scenarios that include buying assets such as Telefonica’s U.K. unit O2 or Latin American businesses, two of the people said.