Carlos Slim ups stake in Telekom Austria Latin American mobile phones provider America Movil on Friday emerged as the surprise acquirer of a 21 per cent stake in Telekom Austria, ending weeks of speculation about the plans of one of Austria's best known corporate raiders. The Mexican group, owned by multibillionaire Carlos Slim, said it had reached agreement to buy the 21 per cent stake in Telekom built up over recent months by Ronny Pecik, a leading Austrian financier. America Movil will purchase 5 per cent immediately, taking its current stake in Telekom to 6.7 per cent, and expects to buy the remainder of Mr Pecik's holding later this year, after receipt of appropriate approvals. The move came as America Movil is separately pursuing a major share in KPN, the Netherlands telecom group, having just raised its stake in the Netherlands telecom group to 7.3 per cent. KPN is resisting the buy-in effort. America Movil's interest in Telekom, in which the Austrian government owns a blocking minority of more than 28 per cent, appears much more welcome. The OeIAG Austrian state holding company, which holds the shares, said America Movil was an excellent strategic partner for Telekom, and orientated towards the long term. "This investor is a financially and strategically excellent company with long term strategic interests particularly in the Middle East and eastern Europe," said Markus Beyer, OeIAG's chairman. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Mr Pecik, an ebullient banker who made his name taking a big stake in Austria's VA Hydro, then sold on to Siemens and others, had gone to ground in recent years after some less successful transactions in neighbouring Switzerland. His investments in Swiss industrial groups Unaxis (now renamed Oerlikon) and Sulzer are believed to have produced mixed results at best - although no financial details were ever released. His investments also attracted adverse regulatory attention. Both stakes have since been sold to Renova Group, the investment vehicle of Viktor Vekselberg, the Switzerland-based Russian oligarch who is also a big shareholder in the TNK-BP joint venture. America Movil is buying the Telekom stake from a subsidiary of RPR Privatstiftung, the private investment vehicle run by Mr Pecik. This acquisition positions AMX as a long term strategic partner of Telekom Austria. It is part of AMX geographic diversion strategy and provides an attractive presence in central and eastern Europe," said America Movil. "AMX expects to develop a constructive relationship with Telekom Austria's stakeholders and is confident about the company's overall potential for development," it added. Telekom, like many other big Austrian companies, used the collapse of communism to expand fast into neighbouring central and eastern European markets, notably Belarus, Bulgaria and the Balkans. But it has experienced significant difficulties with some investments as local economies have soured in the financial currencies and currencies been devalued.