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Mexican broadcaster Televisa will purchase AT&T’s stake in Sky Mexico and take full ownership of the business
In a press release this week, Televista have confirmed that they are purchasing AT&T’s 41.3% stake in satellite TV provider Sky Mexico. Having already held the remaining 58.7% stake in the business, the deal will give the media group full control over Sky Mexico.
The deal’s exact cost has not been revealed, but the statement confirmed that the transaction price would be paid by the company in 2027 and 2028.
“The lack of a published price and the long payment schedule makes me think a significant portion of the consideration will be in the form of an earn-out, in turn reflecting the uncertainty of Sky’s short-term prospects,” speculated Gilberto Garcia, head of financial advisory at consultancy Miranda Partners., when speaking to Reuters.
An earn-out is a contractual condition of a purchase agreement whereby elements of the price are contingent upon the performance of the business. In this case, AT&T would receive a portion of the purchase price based on Sky’s performance.
Sky Mexico currently has a 58% share of the Mexican pay TV market, and nearly a 25% share of the broadband market, making it Mexico’s second largest broadband operator. In the third quarter of last year, Sky’s revenues fell by 13.8%, which was put down to a year-on-year decline in RGU’s (revenue generating units, or subscribers).
The transaction is subject to standard regulatory approval.
In the announcement, Televisa also confirmed that Luis Malvido will step down as CEO of Sky Mexico next month, after serving in his position for two years.
“On behalf of Grupo Televisa, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to Luis for his leadership, innovation, and valuable contributions to the Company. Luis has been instrumental in the evolution and simplification processes of our core business at Sky, and we wish him continued success in his future projects,” said Grupo Televisa’s co-CEOs, Bernardo Gómez and Alfonso de Angoitia.
Francisco Valim, already head of Televisa’s cable unit Izzi Telecom, will take over as CEO of Sky Mexico.
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