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Mesoamerica Telecom, a special purpose vehicle to invest in telecommunications in Central America was formed in 1998. $200M were raised to join forces with Telefónica, the largest phone service provider in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world in order to create Telefónica Centroamérica.
Telefónica Centroamérica developed national networks for mobile voice services in El Salvador and Guatemala and launched a complete range of integrated telecommunication services in those markets. The company became in one of the leading companies in the industry in a short period of time, with assets over $600M and revenues in excess of $250M.
Mesoamerica brought in the identified strategic partner to the region, structured financing alternatives (syndicated loans for $265M), gathered the local group of investors, created the investment structure and negotiated the shareholders agreement with Telefónica. In addition, Mesoamerica aided in strategic planning for the company with its active participation in the board of directors and executive committees.
In 2001, Mesoamerica negotiated a stock swap for its 49% in Telefónica Centromerica, becoming the largest shareholder of Telefónica Móviles after Telefónica. After an already established process of stock sales in the open market, a successful exit of the investment for the investor groups was completed in 2003. |
