Carlos Slim’s telecoms giant America Movil is holding talks with potential bidders to discuss the sale of US$17.5bn worth of assets along the east coast of Mexico, according to a Bloomberg report citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Potential…
Carlos Slim’s telecoms giant America Movil is holding talks with potential bidders to discuss the sale of US$17.5bn worth of assets along the east coast of Mexico, according to a Bloomberg report citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Potential suitors include US telco AT&T, Japan’s SoftBank, Bell Canada and China Mobile, the report noted.
The assets could be priced at five to seven times EBITDA of US$2.5bn, which would imply a value of about US$17.5bn.
Bloomberg cited two sources as saying the company has not yet invited investors to submit formal bids as the preliminary documents did not contain enough information for them to do so.
Rick Mattila, executive director at Mitsubishi UFJ, said a larger than anticipated sale would be positive for America Movil’s credit, although it expects proceeds will be invested elsewhere, possibly including Brazil.
In his view, Spain’s Telefonica could also be interested in the assets.
He added that, for AT&T, it would be a medium-sized deal which it could fund fairly easily, but it would also be looked at as a statement of intent regarding the group’s plans in Latin America.
AT&T is looking to close its US$48.5bn takeover of pan-American DTH operator DirecTV, which holds a 41.3% stake in Sky Mexico.
In July, America Movil, which controls 70% of the Mexican mobile market and 80% of the fixed line segment, has been required to sell some assets to lower its market share to comply with changes to the country’s telecoms laws.
The company is also planning to spin off its tower assets.
America Movil, SoftBank, Bell Canada and China Mobile could not be immediately reached for comment.
An AT&T spokesperson declined to comment.
