Liberty LATAM bails out of convergence ambitions

Liberty Latin America has terminated its conversations regarding a potential acquisition of Millicom International.

Details are relatively thin on the ground, though the pair has been in discussions over a possible acquisition which would have made Liberty LATAM the largest convergence player in the Americas. What this means for the Liberty business, which has targeted growth in Latin America in recent years, remains to be seen.

“The Company remains focused on its growth strategy to deliver value for shareholders and provide market leading products and services to its customers,” Liberty said in a statement.

The acquisition talks only emerged in the last couple of weeks, though it would have been a complete takeover from Liberty Latin America. While the Liberty business is certainly in a stable position in the region, competitors have bought into the convergence buzz in recent years, with Telefonica and America Movil offering what would be considered in today’s terms as a more complete connectivity offering.

Operating in 21 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, Liberty offers consumer and B2B cable and fixed internet services, as well as operating a subsea cable network. On the other side of the coin, Millicom commands mobile operations in eight markets, in most of which it is a market share leader. Theoretically, there was a very handy dovetail between the pair.

Latin America is certainly a market which can offer significant rewards, albeit there are notable risks as well, but it seems the convergence dream was a short-lived dalliance for Liberty LATAM. At least for the moment.