America Movil Prepared to Abandon $9.5 Billion KPN Proposal

America Movil SAB said it’s prepared to drop a 7.2 billion-euro ($9.5 billion) bid for Royal KPN NV after the Dutch phone company’s foundation used an option to buy shares to impede what it described as a hostile takeover.

KPN’s foundation said yesterday it exercised the option to acquire preferred shares, giving it almost 50 percent of issued and voting stock, almost enough to block America Movil’s 2.40 euro-per-share offer for majority control. KPN fell 3.4 percent to 2.21 euros at the close in Amsterdam. America Movil, Latin America’s biggest phone company, holds about 30 percent of KPN.