Atlax Luxco is the third company to show open interest in Tigo in less than a year, after Apollo Global Management and Claure Group also did so in 2023, but with a negative response from Millicom corporate.
Atlas Luxco, a subsidiary of Atlas Investissement, offered US$4.1 billion to acquire the business of Millicom International Cellular, a telecommunications holding company that operates in the Latin American market through the Tigo brand.
Atlax Luxco is the third company to show open interest in Tigo in less than a year, after Apollo Global Management and Claure Group also did so in 2023, but with a negative response from Millicom corporate.
Tigo is one of the most relevant telecommunications companies on the continent. Its annual revenues are around US$5 billion and its customer base is divided between 40 million mobile customers and a fixed network that reaches almost 14 million homes in ten Latin American countries.
Millicom, although it has its headquarters in Luxembourg and is listed on the Nasdaq index, has its American headquarters in Medellín, Colombia.
In simple comparisons with Mexico, Tigo is as big in traffic measurement as AT&T is in the cellular business; It is the same size as Megacable in landline and its ARPU, of US$ 6.5, almost doubles that of Movistar.
Tigo, however, has focused its business objectives more on Central and South America, where it offers convergent video, voice and data services. Tigo had also previously left six countries in Africa to enter South America.
Tigo is one of the companies in the sector in the growth phase. Still in 2023, the parent company Millicom announced an investment of US$ 1,000 million to reinforce and expand Tigo Guatemala's operations towards fifth generation (5G) services.
Atlas Luxco reported having offered Millicom US$24 for each Tigo share. The company said its offer will expire on Friday, August 16.
Atlax Luxco's interest in Tigo had been disclosed in May in a non-binding manner. Atlax Luxco already owns 29% of Tigo shares, up from the 7% it originally had in 2022, when it joined that company as a shareholder.
“We firmly believe that we can bring attractive value to the company (…) This offer represents the highest share price achieved by Millicom in the last two years and until early May 2024,” said Atlas Luxco.
"We want to support the execution of its strategic plan and continue to expand the reach and capacity of Millicom's networks and distribution capabilities to grow its customer base," said Atlas Luxco.
Millicom International Cellular, together or alone, offers its services in Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras Nicaragua, Panama and Paraguay, and from these countries it raises more than US$3 billion annually from cellular revenues alone.
