Liberty Latin America, a leading communications company, operating in Chile under the consumer brand of VTR, and América Móvil, Claro Chile's parent company, announced an agreement to combine their respective Chilean operations, VTR and Claro Chile, to form a 50:50 joint venture (JV). You can read more about the announcement in our press release here.
A joint venture is a structure where two (or more) businesses create a separate organization to pursue a common goal. Usually, joint ventures occur between companies that belong to the same sector but have complementary competencies.
The joint venture seeks to combine the complementary operations of VTR and Claro Chile to create a new business with greater scale, product diversification, and a capital structure that will enable significant investment in fixed fiber footprint expansion and to be at the forefront of 5G mobile delivery.
The completion of the transaction is subject to certain customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the second half of 2022.
No. The announcement is a proposed agreement to create a joint venture. Once all the customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, are completed, both companies will formally communicate to their employees, customers, and shareholders when this is finalized and how it will work. Today, the companies continue to operate separately.
No. Until the regulatory approval process has been completed and the new company is formed, both companies will continue to operate separately and independently as they have done until now in the Chilean market.
No. Until the new company is formed, there is no merger of services. Therefore, customers will continue to be customers of the company with which they have contracted their services.
The focus of the joint venture's investments will be on creating a business with greater scale, product diversification, and a capital structure that will enable significant investment in fixed fiber footprint expansion and to be at the forefront of 5G mobile delivery.