Liberty Global has split off its Latin American unit into a separate entity branded Liberty Latin America to provide it “access to the capital and resources necessary to achieve superior financial and strategic growth”.
The Latin American unit has around 3.7 million mobile subscribers, with a fixed network that covers around 6.4 million households. It is comprised of several businesses, including Cable & Wireless Communications, Liberty Cablevision and VTR.com. Annual revenue is roughly $3.7 billion.
Balan Nair, president and CEO of Liberty Latin America, said: “In a region that is currently served by a highly fragmented range of operators and with customer penetration rates roughly half of more mature markets, we see significant prospects for long-term growth both organically as well as through strategic M&A.”
Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global and executive chairman of Liberty Latin America, said: “As Liberty Latin America charts its own course going forward, it will continue to benefit from its Liberty Global heritage and will have access to key shared services and expertise across products, technology, procurement and more.”
Over the past year, the unit’s revenue was adversely affected by damage to power and telecom infrastructure caused by two hurricanes which hit the region. Nair noted that this meant that the new unit was not continuing “business as usual”, but added that “good businesses are built to withstand these things.”
