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Portuguese telecom group Sonaecom has announced the final dissolution of its partnership with Angolan billionaire businesswoman Isabel dos Santos via their joint venture ZOPT, SGPS S.A., which owns a majority 52.15-percent shareholding in NOS, a Portuguese telecom operator.
Sonaecom announced that “it has terminated the shareholder agreement that governed the relations between Zopt’s shareholders — Sonaecom itself, Unitel International, and Kento Holding,” according to a bourse filing seen by Billionaires.Africa.
The telecom company explained that the decision to terminate the partnership agreement came after Sonaecom’s shareholding in ZOPT was amortized.
The company added that the decision to terminate the decade-old partnership reaffirms its intention to maintain a framework of shareholder stability that will allow it to continue developing strategically important projects in the telecom sector.
According to the new agreement, Sonaecom now owns a significant 36.8-percent stake in Nos, including a stake of more than nine percent through its holding company Sonae SGPS, which owns a diverse portfolio of businesses in retail, financial services, technology, shopping centers, and telecom.
Sonaecom will also cease to be a shareholder in ZOPT, which is fully owned by Unitel International Holdings, BV, and Kento Holding Limited, both of which are controlled by dos Santos.
The separation comes not long after dos Santos was accused of corruption and misappropriating public funds for personal gain, which resulted in several court actions and U.S. sanctions.
Dos Santos was once considered Africa’s wealthiest woman, according to Forbes magazine, with a net worth of more than $2 billion. However, she was removed from the list in January 2021 after her bank accounts and assets were seized in Angola, Portugal, and the Netherlands.
She owes $340 million to the Portuguese company PT Ventures. In July 2021, a court in the Netherlands ordered her to hand over to Angola shares in the Portuguese oil company Galp Energia worth $500 million after she was found guilty of exploiting the country’s oil wealth.
