Incumbent Telefonica’s Atento call-centre plans to sell new shares in an IPO as part of efforts to reduce debt, TelecomFinance has confirmed.
Atento’s stock price will be set around 9 June, reported one newswire, citing a terms of sale document, with the…
Incumbent Telefonica’s Atento call-centre plans to sell new shares in an IPO as part of efforts to reduce debt, TelecomFinance has confirmed.
Atento’s stock price will be set around 9 June, reported one newswire, citing a terms of sale document, with the amount Telefonica plans to list remaining undisclosed.
Telefonica declined to comment on the speculation, but a source close to the process confirmed the plans.
However, the source added that the IPO date is subject to change for the unit, which is reported to have an enterprise value of as much as E1bn.
Atento’s sale will be jointly coordinated by Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Banco Santander, BNP, JPMorgan and BBVA are set to be bookrunners.
The sale reflects Telefonica’s increasing focus on its operations in Latin America, as state austerity measures continue to weigh it down at home.
Telefonica reportedly plans to cut its domestic workforce by around a fifth in the next three years to concentrate resources on Latin America.
It has also been trying to list a portion of Atento for some time. A planned flotation of a 20% stake in the group was called off in 2008 because of a difficult economic climate. At the time, the stake had been valued at around E300m.
