Over 1 billion for the purchase of Cable Onda

Millicom has announced an agreement to buy an 80 percent stake in Cable Onda for around 1.002 billion dollars

The company evaluates 100 percent of Cable Onda at an enterprise value of USD 1.460 billion. 

Cable Onda reported that the commercial agreement includes its companies Telecarrier, which offers data storage services, acquired in 2009; and Fronteras Security, dedicated to computer security.

The negotiation is subject "to the conditions of closure and the consensus of the bond holders of Cable Onda", which is expected to be concluded by the end of 2018.

After the agreement, the Panamanian company said that it will also offer new opportunities for growth and development for employees, as well as innovation in products and services for the benefit of customers.

"Our vision is to work with our strong local partners and with all of Cable Onda’s collaborators, to extend the company’s leadership in the market and continue to provide and expand the portfolio of digital services to many more Panamanians," said Millicom CEO , Mauricio Ramos.

The strength of Millicom is mobile telephony through the Tigo brand, which it offers in Central America, South America and Africa, but to enter to participate in the Panamanian cellular service market through Cable Onda, it would have to acquire one of the four operators : Digicel, Telefonica, Cable & Wireless or Claro. The company could not have a license to operate separate mobile telephony. A bill approved a few months ago in the National Assembly allows that instead of four operators, the market is consolidated in three companies.

Millicom is a provider of cable and mobile telephony services with a presence in the three regions, which in 2017 recorded revenues of $ 6 billion, according to information from Cable Onda.

As of December 31, 2017, Millicom employed more than 19,000 people and provided mobile services to more than 51 million customers, with a cable service base of more than 9 million households.

Founded in 1992, Millicom International Cellular, SA, is headquartered in Luxembourg, is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and has announced that it has plans to also list shares in the United States in 2019.

For its part, Cable Onda began operations in 1980 with television services and was acquired in 1996 by the Medcom group, in which invoved the González Revilla and Eleta families. In 2009, Cable Onda merged with Telecarrier, of the Motta group, a company that was dedicated to fixed telephony and data storage services.

A year later, in 2010, Cable Onda also acquired 100% of the Advanced Communication Network shares of Rafy Attie, a fixed-line and internet company.

With this agreement, the alliance of Cable Onda with one of the regional telecommunications operators has materialized and the possible agreement with Liberty Latin America, which was rumored two months ago and that Cable Onda denied, is ruled out.

It has been stated that the important thing of this transaction would be the benefits it would bring to customers in the products in paid television and other services that are offered and in which there are not many competing companies.