Carlos Slim tower business merger proposal Mexico Latin America, Digi Mart USA News (Mexico): Mexican businessman Carlos Slim is considering a possible reorganization of his telecommunications infrastructure businesses after Operadora de Sites Mexicanos (Telesites) proposed submitting a possible merger with Sitios Latinoamérica to its shareholders. Both companies are listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV).
In a statement sent to the BMV, Telesites said the initiative opens the possibility of integrating into a single corporate structure part of the assets used to deploy mobile networks in Mexico and other Latin American markets, where both companies operate in the tower and site-leasing business for telecommunications equipment.
Telesites said its Board of Directors will decide whether to present to an Extraordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting a possible merger with Sitios Latinoamérica, which trades under the ticker LASITE. The company added that the terms and conditions necessary for a possible implementation will also be analyzed.
This means no final structure has been defined and it has not been established how the resulting entity would be organized.
The process requires shareholder approval as well as the corresponding permits. A possible merger would bring together under one corporate structure operations currently separated between Mexico and other Latin American countries.
These companies focus on passive telecommunications infrastructure, including towers, support structures, physical spaces and other elements needed to install transmission equipment. Their model mainly involves building, operating and leasing these spaces to telecommunications companies.
According to both companies’ websites, this infrastructure is important for mobile network growth because it expands coverage and connection capacity without each operator having to build its own facilities in every location where it provides services.
Both companies have ties to América Móvil, the telecommunications group linked to Carlos Slim, but their corporate paths separated through different processes to manage tower infrastructure. Telesites began operations in January 2015 after receiving 11,766 towers from Telcel as part of an infrastructure asset reorganization in Mexico.
The company specialized in building, maintaining, operating and leasing sites for telecommunications equipment. It later developed its presence in the Mexican market and expanded its infrastructure portfolio, and its operations also include activities in Costa Rica.
Telesites began trading on the BMV in March 2022.
Sitios Latinoamérica emerged after a decision by América Móvil announced in February 2021 to separate towers and other passive infrastructure assets located outside Mexico, with certain exceptions. The process concluded in August 2022, when the corresponding assets, liabilities and capital were transferred to the new company.
In September of that year, Sitios Latinoamérica began trading on the Mexican Stock Exchange.
