Telefonica waives rights in Telecom Italia eyeing Brazil

MADRID (Reuters) - Telefonica (TEF.MC) has formally waived the voting rights associated with its stake in Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) in order to comply with the demands of Brazil's telecoms watchdog Anatel and go ahead with a purchase of Vivendi's GVT (VIV.PA), the Spanish group said on Friday.

Earlier this month Brazil's antitrust regulator said it had reached a preliminary deal with Telefonica and the local broadband unit of Vivendi that could clear the way for their merger.

Telefonica has an around 14.8 percent stake in Telecom Italia, and has said it plans to use the stake to partly fund the purchase after relations soured between the two over consolidation in Brazil last year. The competition clash arises due to Telecom Italia's Brazilian units TIM and Intelig.

Having lost out to Telefonica in bidding for GVT last year, Telecom Italia had been looking at the possibility of instead buying Oi (OIBR3.SA) although that option appears now to have faded.

The Spanish telecoms giant has lined up nine banks to run its 3 billion euro ($3.2 billion) capital increase in connection with its Brazilian purchase, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

(Reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary, editing by David Evans)