Billionaire Carlos Slim's planned expansion in Europe had been halted after talks with Royal KPN had ended. Slim's plan of acquiring cheap European telecommunications assets was fended off by KPN's executives. Slim had offered USD9.7 billion for KPN, said a report from Bloomberg.

Yesterday, American Movil SAB led by Slim had backed out of the takeover proposal. This was after failing to persuade the KPN management to accept his offered bid priced EUR2.40 a share piece. The offered to gain the Dutch phone carrier by the Mexico City based company that was rejected would make America Movil retain its holdings of around 30% in KPN.

According to Corporative GBM SAB analyst Carlos de Legarreta, "We probably expect them to increase their stake in another European operator, and the natural option would be Telekom Austria. Europe is an attractive market, even if it's being pressured by the slowing macroeconomy. They are mature markets with a good return."