Perhaps this will cleanse the waters a bit! lol Go AMT!!!
NII Holdings Agrees to Sell Towers in Brazil, Mexico for $811 Million
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Nii Holdings, Inc. (MM) (NASDAQ:NIHD)
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Today : Friday 9 August 2013
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By Saabira Chaudhuri
NII Holdings Inc. (NIHD) has agreed to sell towers in Brazil and Mexico to American Tower REIT (AMT) for $811 million, a move that gives the Latin America wireless-service provider funds to make continued investments in the two countries.
Shares popped 20% to $7.97 in recent premarket trading. Through Thursday's close, the stock has dropped 6.5% so far this year.
Under the deal's terms NII--which operates under the Nextel brand in Latin America--has agreed to sell about 2,790 towers in Brazil and 1,666 towers in Mexico in two separate transactions for total estimated proceeds based on current foreign currency exchange rates of $413 million and $398 million, respectively.
Both Nextel Brazil and Nextel Mexico agreed to lease back the towers from American Tower for a minimum 12-year initial lease term and have the option to extend the lease for additional renewal periods. The transactions are expected to be completed in the fourth quarter.
NII has previously said it plans this year to continue to invest in the deployment of its 3G networks, with a particular focus on building those networks and improving results in its core markets of Mexico and Brazil.
"The sale of our towers in Brazil and Mexico provides us with funding at an attractive cost of capital and valuation of our tower assets," Chief Financial Officer Juan Figuereo, said.
In April, NII agreed to sell its Peruvian operations to Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones SA (ENTEL.SN) for about $400 million, a deal that narrowed its focus to Mexico and Brazil.
Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com
