What if Iliad suddenly grew beyond Europe? Its founder, already a 29% shareholder in Milicom, is studying a public takeover offer for the telecommunications group Latin American.
Nearly 19 months after having started investing in Millicom International Cellular to the point of having become a major shareholder with 29.3% of the capital, Xavier Niel is now considering taking over the group which operates under the Tigo brand in nine country in Latin America with nearly 50 million fixed and mobile customers.
Its holding company Atlas Investissement announced on May 23 following revelations from Bloomberg, “explore a potential plan for a 100% takeover bid for Millicom shares”. For now, the structure is currently exploring financing options to support an offering price of $24 per share of Millicom common stock. “Given the preliminary nature of this review, Atlas cannot guarantee that an offer will materialize”, specifies a press release. This share buyback operation would value the Latin American operator at around $4.1 billion.
By placing his pawns in the group, accompanied by Iliad managers including Maxime Lombardini who became head of operations, Xavier Niel introduced a new management method in the group: significant reduction in workforce, reduction in investment expenses , standardization of charges linked to the use of the network and frequencies.
To the point that Millicom’s market capitalization today reaches $3.5 billion, the group even recently raised its cash flow target to $550 million. Several analysts predict a 47.2% increase in turnover for 2024.
Last year, Millicom was already a takeover target. the group was in talks about a possible sale to Apollo Global Management Inc. and Claure Group. It was at this precise moment that the founder of Iliad took a new stake in the company.
Altas considers Milicom as “an attractive investment opportunity thanks to its strong regional market leadership position in Latin America, high quality assets and strong brand. The team has demonstrated a strong track record of execution, including growth in the market, the full exit of its African operations and the development of its fintech business Tigo Money,” the holding company announces on its website.
This article was reprinted on the Univers FreeBox website
