By Gilles Castonguay
MILAN--Telecom Italia SpA (TIT.MI) Thursday said it has agreed
to sell all of its controlling interest in Telecom Argentina SA
(TECO2.BA) to Fintech Group for $960 million, a transaction that
will help the Italian company operator pay off part of its massive
debt.
The bulk of the deal has Fintech offering $750 million for 68%
of Telecom Italia's shares and voting rights in Sofora
Telecomunicaciones SA, a holding company that controls Telecom
Argentina. The rest of the bid was for a host of smaller
assets.
The transaction, news of which broke on Nov. 7, will see Telecom
Italia sell for $859.5 million 68% of the voting shares in Sofora,
among other shares held by Tierra Argentea and Nortel. It will sell
for a remaining $100.5 million the provision of technical support
to Telecom Argentina and other services for up to three years,
among other conditions.
The sale is part of Telecom Italia's effort to raise about EUR4
billion by 2016 to bring down EUR28.2 billion of debt.
It also marks its first major move since Spanish peer Telefonica
SA (TEF) announced plans to become Telecom Italia's dominant
shareholder.
Telecom Argentina has fixed-line and mobile operations in
Argentina, as well as mobile services in Paraguay.
Write to Gilles Castonguay at gilles.castonguay@dowjones.com;
Twitter: @GRCastonguay
-0-