This bid came as no surprise. Carlos Slim has already bought 30 per cent of KPN and recently made his intention to bid for full control known. One of the reasons for the timing of the move is thought to be the imminent tie-up between Telefonica and E-Plus in Germany - according to Reuters, Slim regards the deal as too cheap, especially as it will advantage his biggest rival - Telefonica - in the Latin American markets.

Reuters says Slim's move is calculated to extract a higher bid from Telefonica or cause the deal to fail.

Slim's bid for KPN, at €2.40 per share in cash, represents a premium of around 35 per cent on the current share price and values KPN as a whole at around €10.2 billion. The share price has risen since the bid to just under the €2.40 offer.

Apparently Carlos Slim is on a European shopping trip. He already has an interest in Telekom Austria and is also thought to be eyeing up Everything Everywhere (EE) in the UK.