After first stating last month that it would not be able to buy back the stake in America Movil sold off by AT&T to fund its DirecTV purchase, the holding company that underpins America Movil has confirmed in a new statement that it would indeed buy back the 8% stake currently floating on the open market.
As part of the transaction, both Inmobiliaria Carso and Control Empresarial de Capitales, both of which are América Móvil’s major shareholders will acquire 5,739,341,928 Series “AA” shares representing 23.81 percent of America Movil’s voting stock from AT&T International, Inc. Upon consummation of the transaction authorized by the Board of Directors, AT&T will no longer be a shareholder of América Móvil, with AT&T receiving $4.57 billion at the close of the sale and another $1 billion within 60 days after the closing, totaling $5.57 billion.
AT&T had previously sold off smaller percentages of its stake in America Movil prior to the sale, with the company selling off its most recent stake percentage in April, but this is the first time the carrier has sold off such a significant stake in its current form. AT&T also had two seats on the holding company’s board of directors prior to the sale and despite the steady reductions in the ownership stake over the past 24 months. As of today, AT&T no longer holds a stake in America Movil according to the latest regulatory filings.
How this will affect Tracfone’s relationship with AT&T going forward is not immediately known, as the company manages multiple MVNOs that are powered by AT&T’s network as well as other carriers, with AT&T representing the largest network access lease in terms of both cost and coverage depth followed by the rest of the current carriers in Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile.
