Telefónica sells its subsidiary in Uruguay to Millicom for 389 million euros | Companies | EUROtoday

Telefónica has reached an settlement for the sale to Millicom of all the shares that holds in Telefónica Móviles del Uruguay, consultant of 100% of its social capital, for 440 million {dollars} (roughly 389 million euros on the present change charge), in keeping with an announcement despatched late on Wednesday to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

The transaction is topic to the standard changes in this sort of operations, together with acquiring the related regulatory approvals. The sale is a part of the phone coverage aligned with its technique to cut back publicity to Latin America. This is the fourth sale of the corporate chaired by Marc Murtra in Latin America, after the already closed of Peru and Argentina, and that of the Colombian subsidiary, pending approval.

Precisely, the Spanish firm introduced in July 2024 the sale of its participation of 67.5% of its subsidiary Colombia Telecomunicaciones (COLTEL) to Millicom, an organization primarily based in Luxembourg however operates in a number of Latin American nations, for 400 million {dollars} (368 million euros).

Telefónica, by its Movistar trademark, is the second Uruguay cell operator, with about 29% of the traces as of March 2025. The first firm is Antel (National Telecommunications Administration) fully managed by the State.

Unlike the latest gross sales of Telefónica’s subsidiaries in Argentina and Peru, which had been closed concurrently the announcement, the operation in Uruguay is topic to acquiring the related regulatory approvals. In this fashion, the nation’s laws permits regulators to impose circumstances and even paralyze the operation in the event that they estimate that it violates free competitors.

Telefónica offered its subsidiary in Argentina on February 24 to Telecom Argentina – managed by the Clarín media group and the Fintech fund – for about 1,190 million euros. On April 13 he introduced the sale of its subsidiary in Peru to the Argentine Firm Integra Tecc International for 900,000 euros, together with the belief of the debt for 1,200 million.

The accounting incapacity for these two operations had a detrimental influence of 1,731 million euros in whole, which set the group accounts similar to the primary three months of the 12 months, by which it registered internet losses of 1,304 million euros.

Millicom posture

Millicom has stood out in an announcement that this strategic acquisition is aligned with the regional reorganization of Telefónica “and will allow you to consolidate its leadership position in South America.” The group, based in 1990, estimates that the transaction has a constructive influence on free money circulate since 2026, pushed by operational efficiencies and integration with its present regional presence.

Once the operation is closed, the corporate expects fast scale advantages, larger synergies and a creation of sustained worth on its Latin American platform. The transaction additionally additional diversifies Millicom’s money circulate sources, decreasing the worldwide threat, backed by the steady macroeconomic setting of Uruguay and its funding grade score (BBB+). The forecast is that the leverage of Millicom will increase briefly at roughly 0.1 instances on the EBITDA.

For the corporate, it’s “the acquisition of a profitable and consolidated mobile operator with national coverage in Uruguay, with operational and commercial synergies with the existing operations of Millicom in Paraguay and Bolivia, the strengthening of the digital ecosystem, allowing greater opportunities for packaging and innovation in services”.

“This acquisition represents a key milestone in our growth strategy with purpose in Latin America – especially in Uruguay, a country with solid economic foundations and a digital agenda oriented to the future. We are committed to being a long -term partner in the digital development of Uruguay through investments in mobile infrastructure, improvements in the quality of the service, and impulse to innovation and the development of talent,” stated Marclo Benítez, CEO of Millicom.

Murtra intervention

In this context, the president of Telefónica, Marc Murtra, has referred this Wednesday in a discussion board organized by the newspaper Expansion to the group’s technique to cut back its publicity to Latin America. Specifically, the Catalan supervisor has indicated that disinversions in Latin America enhance the corporate’s strategic place to undertake consolidation operations within the sector of the sector telecos In Europe, the place three of its 4 predominant markets are concentrated, that’s, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom (along with Brazil).

“The reality of Latin America, where there are large teams, (…) If one looks at the accounts and the box generation, we believe that capital in our hands is used more efficiently pointing towards other assets. We believe that these movements, although it may not be intuitive (…), give us even greater capacity to consolidate,” he careworn.

The president of Telefónica was in favor that in Spain there are solely three main telecommunications operators, the identical quantity that world reference nations have within the sector such because the United States, India, Japan, China and Saudi Arabia, whereas in Europe there are 41 with greater than half one million clients and as much as 800 with the consideration of digital operator and not using a community (OMV).

In Spain, there are 4 giant firms of nationwide presence: Telefónica, Masorange, Vodafone and Digi. “The 3 is not a magical number that always comes out after throwing dice 200 times,” he stated. “It is the optimal place to develop technology, offer a good service and that the market works correctly.”

Asked concerning the info that aimed toward an curiosity of Telefónica to purchase Vodafone Spain, he stated that “we never commented concrete operations until they are signed”, as a result of in any other case the one factor that’s achieved is “upload the price” of the operation. Murtra stated they’ve “many options” on the desk, however they’re “an absolutely saved secret the operations we do and those we do not.”

Despite this discretion, since Murtra introduced on April 13 that they had been prepared to undertake an operation in Spain, the value of the Zegona British fund, whose solely asset is Vodafone Spain, has shot greater than 25%.