Grupo Televisa acquires 30-per cent stake in Nextel de Mexico for $1.44 billion
16 Feb 2010
Grupo Televisa, a Mexican multimedia conglomerate said yesterday that it is acquiring a 30-per cent stake in cell phone carrier Nextel de Mexico for $1.44 billion in cash, in a move designed to compete better with Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim's America Movil.
The largest media company in the Spanish-speaking market Mexico City-based Televisa, which reported 2008 revenues of $26.629 billion, will acquire a 30 per cent stake in Nextel Mexico, a subsidiary of NII Holdings for $1.44 billion in cash.
Televisa, which received regulatory approval last week to acquire up to 40 per cent in Nextel de México, has the option to acquire an additional 7.5 per cent in Nextel after three or four years on completion of the deal.
Televisa will have the right to appoint two of Nextel de México's six board members and Nextel de México's president, Peter Foyo and its existing management team will continue to run the business.
By taking a major stake in Nextel de México, Televisa hopes to add wireless and broadband data services to its existing portfolio of pay TV offerings.
Reston, Virginia-based NII Holdings, the international arm of Sprint Nextel, is a mobile phone company operating in Mexico, Argentina, Peru,, and Chile and has about seven million subscribers as of 30 September.
