In a move to strengthen its domestic business, BellSouth Corp. is selling its interests in its 10 Latin American operations to Telefonica Moviles, the wireless affiliate of Telefonica, S.A., for $4.2 billion.
BellSouth and its partners operate 10 wireless companies in Latin America (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela). Telefonica has operations in seven Latin American countries (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Chile, El Salvador and Guatemala).
With the acquisition, Telefonica will add six additional countries to its footprint and 10.5 million new customers.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2004.
BellSouth expects to record a gain on the transaction based on the book value at closing. Based on current book value, the after-tax gain would be approximately $1.9 billion.
