Liberty Latin America to Acquire Controlling Stake in UTS
March 26 2019 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
- Acquisition increases C&W’s scale
in Curaçao and expands footprint to St. Maarten, St. Martin,
Bonaire, St. Barths, St. Eustatius and Saba
- Bringing innovation and world-class
connectivity solutions to UTS customers
- Leveraging Liberty Latin America’s
regional scale to drive synergies
Liberty Latin America Ltd. (“Liberty Latin America” or “LLA”)
(NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK, OTC Link: LILAB), today announced that it
has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 87.5% of United
Telecommunication Services N.V. (“UTS”), which provides fixed and
mobile services to the island nations of Curaçao, St. Maarten, St.
Martin, Bonaire, St. Barths, St. Eustatius and Saba, in an all cash
transaction. The agreement to acquire represents all shares held in
UTS by the Government of Curaçao. In the transaction, UTS is valued
at an enterprise value of $189 million1 on a cash- and debt-free
basis, representing a multiple of 6x 2018 Adjusted EBITDA2 prior to
the merger with the existing Cable & Wireless Communications
Limited (C&W) business in Curaçao and integration into LLA’s
regional operations. This enhanced national and regional scale will
provide a platform for both improved and exciting services for all
our customers and for further material synergies.
Balan Nair, President and CEO of Liberty Latin America,
commented, “We are excited to welcome UTS to Liberty Latin America.
By consolidating these operations in Curaçao, we will form the
largest full-service converged telecom operator on the island and
create a true national champion, bringing world-class connectivity
solutions to our customers on both fixed and mobile networks. In
addition, through this acquisition, we are expanding our footprint
in the region, allowing us to further leverage our operational
scale and unique sub-sea network.”
UTS provides video, broadband internet, fixed-line telephony and
mobile LTE services to residential and business customers across
Curaçao, St. Maarten, St. Martin, Bonaire, St. Barths, St.
Eustatius and Saba. As of December 31, 2018, UTS served a total of
101,000 fixed subscribers3 and 134,000 mobile subscribers3, the
majority of which were located in Curaçao.
Liberty Latin America intends to finance the acquisition of UTS
through existing liquidity, including incremental revolver drawings
at C&W. The transaction is expected to be completed in the
coming days.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, including statements regarding the benefits of the
transaction, including scale and synergy benefits and
opportunities; the expected impact on connectivity solutions,
technology, and standards of service; and other information and
statements that are not historical fact. These forward-looking
statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied
by these statements. These risks and uncertainties include factors
that are outside of our control, including our ability to achieve
expected operational efficiencies, synergies and economies of
scale, as well as other factors detailed from time to time in
Liberty Latin America’s filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including its most recently filed Form 10-K. These
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this
release. Liberty Latin America expressly disclaims any obligation
or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any
forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in
Liberty Latin America’s expectations with regard thereto or any
change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such
statement is based.
About UTS
United Telecommunication Services owns and operates multiple
media and telecommunication businesses that serve a wide range of
audiences across the different island territories where they
operate, which includes Curaçao, St. Maarten, St. Martin, Bonaire,
St. Barths, St. Eustatius and Saba. In addition to serving the
local population, these territories are well known as tourism and
business destinations.
About Liberty Latin America
Liberty Latin America is a leading telecommunications company
operating in over 20 countries across Latin America and the
Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil,
BTC and Cabletica. The communications and entertainment services
that we offer to our residential and business customers in the
region include digital video, broadband internet, telephony and
mobile services. Our business products and services include
enterprise-grade connectivity, data center, hosting and managed
solutions, as well as information technology solutions with
customers ranging from small and medium enterprises to
international companies and governmental agencies. In addition,
Liberty Latin America operates a sub-sea and terrestrial fiber
optic cable network that connects over 40 markets in the
region.
Liberty Latin America has three separate classes of common
shares, which are traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under
the symbols "LILA" (Class A) and "LILAK" (Class C), and on the OTC
link under the symbol "LILAB" (Class B).
For more information, please visit www.lla.com.
1 Reflects the enterprise value for 100% of the shares in
UTS and is subject to customary adjustments under the transaction
documents, including changes in working capital and 2018 business
performance. 2 The Adjusted EBITDA (defined as earnings before net
financing expenses, income taxes, depreciation and amortization,
restructuring cost, net hurricane claim proceeds and certain
non-recurring items) for the year ended December 31, 2018 (fiscal
year 2018), represents Liberty Latin America’s management’s best
estimate of UTS’s Adjusted EBITDA based upon financial information
obtained from the management of UTS. Such financial information is
in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards
(“IFRS”), as adjusted for identified accounting policy differences
with Liberty Latin America’s accounting principles generally
accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”). Liberty Latin America
has not completed its analysis of the differences between Liberty
Latin America’s U.S. GAAP accounting policies and UTS’s IFRS
accounting policies with respect to UTS’s financial information. 3
Operating statistics for UTS are based on UTS’s counting policies
and are subject to change once UTS’s operating statistics are
presented in accordance with Liberty Latin America’s policies.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190326005452/en/
Investor Relations:Kunal
Patel +1 786 274 7552
Media Relations:Claudia
Restrepo +1 786 218 0407
Liberty Latin America (NASDAQ:LILAK)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2024 to Nov 2024
Liberty Latin America (NASDAQ:LILAK)
Historical Stock Chart
From Nov 2023 to Nov 2024