By Christopher Bjork 

MADRID-- Telefónica SA has taken the plunge with a two-pronged stock sale to raise cash to pay for part of its EUR7.24 billion ($7.96 billion) takeover of Brazilian cable operator GVT from France's Vivendi SA.

The Spanish telecommunications group has announced the terms of two rights issues, one in Spain and the other in Brazil, to cover the EUR4.66 billion cash portion of the acquisition which marks a major entrenchment of its position in Latin America.

The acquisition of GVT should bolster Telefónica's position as the leading telecommunications firm in Brazil, Latin America's biggest economy, reinforcing its broadband Internet and fixed-line telephone operations with GVT's assets. Telefónica agreed last September to pay Vivendi in cash and stock for the Brazilian business.

In Spain, Telefónica plans to sell 281.2 million shares to existing shareholders to raise EUR3 billion. This cash will then be used to cover Telefónica's participation of the stock sale at its Brazilian unit in which it owns a 74% stake.

In a regulatory filing published late Wednesday, Telefónica said the new shares will be sold at EUR10.84 each. The pricing was set at a board meeting Wednesday, hours after the Spanish firm received approval for the takeover from Brazil's competition regulator CADE.

Separately, Telefónica Brasil said on Thursday it will sell 113 million common shares and 219.9 million preferred shares.

The company will offer its shares in Brazil and in U.S. in the form of American Depositary Shares, or ADS. It didn't unveil a timetable for the share offer.

Wednesday's approval from CADE was the last formal step for Telefónica to complete the purchase. Earlier this month, the deal was rubber-stamped by Brazil's telecommunications regulator, Anatel.

Vivendi, which is also receiving a stake in Telefónica Brasil and shares in Telecom Italia SpA as part of the GVT sale agreement, is itself under pressure from some investors to say what it plans to do with the money it has raised from this and a number of other asset sales. U.S. activist fund P. Schoenfeld Asset Management wants the media group to boost shareholder returns and clarify its strategy ahead of next month's annual meeting.

--Rogerio Jelmayer in São Paulo contributed to this article.

Write to Christopher Bjork at christopher.bjork@wsj.com

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