Entel Chile has completed its acquisition of business-focused wireless operator Nextel Peru from US-based NII Holdings.
The original deal, first agreed in April, was US$400m but rose to US$411m after adjustments for cash, debt and working capital…
Entel Chile has completed its acquisition of business-focused wireless operator Nextel Peru from US-based NII Holdings.
The original deal, first agreed in April, was US$400m but rose to US$411m after adjustments for cash, debt and working capital balances.
The sale is in line with NII’s new strategy announced earlier this year. The Virginia-based telco decided to focus its resources on its two largest markets – Brazil and Mexico – and sell off its smaller businesses in Argentina, Chile and Peru.
In a statement NII’s CEO Steve Shindler said: “The sale of Nextel Peru is part of our ongoing strategy to increase stockholder value by allowing us to focus and align our financial and operational resources where we can maximise our return on invested capital.”
The sale gives NII extra liquidity to support its network upgrades in Brazil and Mexico. Deutsche Bank and Jones Day advised the US telco on the disposal, while Entel was advised by Asset Chile and BNP Paribas.
Entel bolster Peru ops
For Santiago-headquartered Entel, the acquisition is part of its strategy to become a major wireless player in Peru.
In the country’s recent LTE auction, Entel’s subsidiary in the country – enterprise-focused Americatel – paid US$105.5m for 20-year licences in the 1,710-1,770 MHz and 2110-2170 MHz bands.
Nextel Peru is historically an iDEN operator and has been struggling to migrate its customers over to its 3G network, which it is has been trying to expand. According to Informa analyst Marceli Passoni, Entel’s spectrum win should help.
“Instead of investing in expanding 3G networks, Entel will be able to deploy the latest technology and have a competitive advantage over its rivals,” Passoni said in a blog post last month.
She added that Entel may use the spectrum to offer fixed wireless broadband as well.
