America Movil has announced an agreement to acquire 100 percent of Brazil’s fifth largest mobile operator Nextel from NII Holdings and Access Industries Brazil Holdings for a total of USD 905 million on a cash- and debt-free basis. Under the terms of the deal, NII Holdings will receive 70 percent of the final net proceeds, with AI Brazil receiving 30 percent for the stake it acquired in June for around USD 70 million.
In a brief statement, America Movil said the transaction would serve to consolidate the position of Claro Brasil as one of the leading operators in the country, strengthening its mobile network capacity, spectrum portfolio, subscriber base, coverage and quality, particularly in the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In January the Mexico-based group boosted its position in Central America by acquiring Guatemala and El Salvador operations from Telefonica for a total of EUR 570 million.
Separately, NII said the closing of the transaction remains subject to the approval of its stockholders and receipt of required regulatory and antitrust approvals. It added that its board has also approved a plan to dissolve and wind up NII after the closing of the transaction.
The deal comes after Telecom Italia’s local unit TIM Brasil was strongly tipped as a possible buyer of Nextel Brazil before the Italian group’s chief executive and former Vivo CEO Amos Genish was ousted in November.
A former iDen operator active in several South American countries, Nextel completed the transition to a 3G network last year, focusing on the largest cities Rio and Sao Paulo and using a roaming agreement for the rest of the country with Telefonica's Vivo. In 2015 it sought protection from creditors in order to restructure its debt and sold off its activities outside Brazil.
