NII Holdings (NASDAQ: NIHD) has named Francisco Valim as the new president of its main operating subsidiary Nextel Brazil, who will be responsible for changing the carrier’s fortunes.
NII Holdings (NASDAQ: NIHD) has named Francisco Valim as the new president of its main operating subsidiary Nextel Brazil, who will be responsible for changing the carrier’s fortunes.
Valim, who was CEO of Brazilian incumbent Oi between 2011 and 2013, replaces Gokul Hemmady as the head of the Sao Paulo-based operator, which recorded disappointing Q2 results earlier this month.
Valim will report to NII’s CEO Steve Shindler, who said he was confident the new president was “the right person to lead Nextel Brazil as we strive to build our subscriber base and increase revenues while continuing to reduce our costs.”
On 7 August, NII, which emerged from bankruptcy in June, revealed its Q2 results. Shindler described them as disappointing, highlighting the decline in adjusted OIBDA, and said the group needed to increase its revenues.
“Our results reflect the impact of a challenging macroeconomic environment that is affecting the entire wireless industry as well as the deterioration in foreign currency exchange rates that are expected to continue to affect our businesses in Brazil and Argentina for the remainder of 2015,” he said.
“Our results to date and the negative economic outlook put us well behind the goals we set for ourselves in the business plan that was developed last year in connection with our Chapter 11 restructuring process.”
Valim joins from Via Varejo, a Brazilian electronics and furniture retailer. He took that role after leaving his post as CEO of Oi in January 2013. He joined Oi in June 2011 after working for the credit consultants Experian as their president of operations in EMEA and Latin America. Before that he was CEO of cable operator Net Servicos de Comunicacao, now known as Net, for five years and was in charge during its sale to America Movil’s Brazilian subsidiary Embratel.
NII did not say what Hemmady’s future plans were. He was made president of Nextel Brazil in 2013 after being appointed chief operating officer of NII in June 2012, and prior to that he was CFO at NII.
Hemmady joined NII in 2007 from ADC Telecommunications, a provider of global network infrastructure and products and services, where he was CFO and held financial leadership positions since he joined in 1997.
NII also announced that Robert Schriesheim, CFO at US retailer Sears, will take a seat on its new board and chair its audit committee as part of its new corporate structure following its emergence from bankruptcy, which saw a number of newly issued shares transferred to bondholders.
In May, the holding company completed its sale of US$1.88bn Nextel Mexico to AT&T, leaving it with operations in Brazil and Argentina. On 24 August Sao Paulo newspaper Valor reported that TIM Participações was preparing an unsolicited bid for Nextel Brazil, but in a statement to the local stock exchange TIM denied the report.
Nextel Brazil has often been mentioned as an acquisition target when talk turns to consolidation in the Brazilian mobile market.
