Highline, ATC and IHS circle Oi's remaining fixed assets

Remember Oi? The Brazilian telecoms provider that has been gradually offloading fixed and mobile assets after filing for bankruptcy protection in 2016? Believe it not, the operator's judicial reorganization process is not yet over.

Much has already been achieved, most notably the sale of Oi's mobile assets to Telecom Italia's Brazilian subsidiary TIM SA, Telefônica Brasil (Vivo) and Claro Americas, the Brazilian operation owned by América Móvil.

As Light Reading has previously reported, in addition to the mobile assets, Oi held separate auctions for four other UPIs including data centers, mobile towers, TV assets (Oi TvCo) and a majority stake in fiber unit InfraCo.

Figure 1: Brazil's Oi nears the final phase of its recovery with plans to sell 8,000 fixed infrastructure sites.
(Source: Unsplash)

Brazil-based private equity firm Piemonte Holding has acquired the data center UPI, Highline do Brasil snapped up the mobile towers, and a consortium comprising funds owned by BTG Pactual and Globenet Cabos Submarinos will eventually own around 65.3% of InfraCo, now known as V.tal. It also looks like Sky is on course to buy Oi's TV assets.

8,000 fixed sites to go

In the latest twist, Highline initiated yet another asset sell-off involving 8,000 fixed network infrastructure sites, or the towers and poles used to support Oi's fixed network infrastructure.

At the beginning of August, Oi announced that a Highline unit called NK 108 had made a binding offer for the 8,000 sites, including all assets, agreements, rights, obligations, licenses and other necessary equipment. NK 108 aims to acquire all of the shares in a special purpose vehicle (SPE) called SPE Torres 2 for up to 1.69 billion Brazilian reais (US$327 million), of which BRL1.08 billion ($208 million) would be paid at closing and the rest by 2026.

Oi has now been given court authorization to sell SPE Torres 2 via a bidding process that is due to start on Monday, August 22, based on Highline's bid.

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Other companies are now reportedly getting in on the act. According to a report by Brazilian news site Tele Sintese, tower companies American Tower Corp (ATC) and IHS Holding may also submit bids for the sites. It will ultimately be up to the courts as well as regulators Anatel and CADE to decide on the winning bid.

With the sale of the fixed towers and TV assets now underway, it does seem that Oi is entering the final phase of its reorganization process.

As noted by Oi Chief Strategy Officer Rogelio Pacala during the operator's earnings call in June, "we are almost at the end of a very long journey on our recovery program."

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— Anne Morris, contributing editor, special to Light Reading