Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defence (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica, CADE) has approved without restrictions the takeover of Nextel Telecomunicacoes (Nextel Brazil), by Mexico’s America Movil (AM). The approval was included in the government’s official gazette (Diario Oficial da Uniao, DOU) on 9 September, and represents a blow to Vivo, TIM Brasil and Oi, all of which had raised concerns over the proposed tie-up between Claro Brasil and Nextel Brasil.
In March 2019 AM entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of Nextel Brazil from its co-owners, NII Holdings (70%) and AI Brazil Holdings (30%). The Mexico City-based group will pay an aggregate purchase price of USD905 million less net debt and subject to certain adjustments at closing, including reimbursements for CAPEX and working capital investments from 1 March 2019 to the transaction’s closing.
Via the takeover, AM’s subsidiary Claro Brasil will seek to consolidate its position in the mobile sector by strengthening its mobile network capacity, spectrum portfolio, subscriber base, coverage and service quality – particularly in the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.