By Maarten van Tartwijk
After talking up the prospects for the European telecom sector, billionaire investor John Paulson is putting his money where his mouth is.
The hedge-fund manager has emerged as a shareholder in Dutch operator KPN, underscoring that investors are betting on further consolidation of Europe’s fragmented telecom market.
Mr. Paulson’s investment firm, Paulson & Co., held a 4.54% stake in the Dutch company as of Monday, according to a regulatory filing published Thursday by Dutch financial-markets regulator AFM. It was the hedge fund’s first notification as a KPN shareholder.
KPN declined to comment, while Paulson & Co. wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Mr. Paulson is best known for his lucrative bets on the U.S. subprime-mortgage crisis, but his firm has also posted gains on the recent wave of mergers in the U.S. cable market. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month, he said telecom was a big area for consolidation, “particularly in Europe.”
So far, U.S. cable magnate John Malone and his Liberty GlobalLBTYA -0.50% have been a driving force in the process, through the acquisition of cable operators in both the U.K. and the Netherlands. Altice, an Amsterdam-listed cable holding company, has also been an active deal maker.
Which role KPN will play in the process is unclear. The Dutch firm last year adopted a poison pill to fend off a takeover bid from América Móvil, the Mexican telecom giant controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim. KPN could also face anti-trust hurdles in the planned sale of its German mobile-phone unit, which it agreed to merge with that of Spain’s Telefónica.
Some analysts have said América Móvil might launch a new bid, even though it has been reducing its stake in KPN in recent months. It currently holds a 26.7% stake in KPN, down from roughly 30% late last year, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
KPN shares traded 1.3% lower Thursday afternoon, the biggest loser in Amsterdam.