AT&T (T) Inks Deal to Sell Vrio Business to Grupo Werthein
AT&T Inc. T has inked a deal to sell its Vrio Corp. business unit to Grupo Werthein for an undisclosed amount.
Based in Argentina, Grupo Werthein is a private holding company that has been doing business in Latin America and globally for more than a century. It has extensive experience in telecommunications, financial markets, insurance, agribusiness and real estate.
Vrio manages the commercial operations of the Latin American branch of DirecTV. It is a leading digital entertainment services company with 10.3 million subscribers across 11 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Grupo Werthein has agreed to acquire 100% of the equity in Vrio.
Vrio provides live and on-demand video services through DirecTV Latin America, Sky Brasil and DirecTV Go. Its infrastructure includes satellites and broadcast centers that carry 4K video formats.
Vrio’s broadband operations in Colombia and AT&T’s interest in Sky Mexico are not included in the deal. Post completion, Vrio’s subscribers will continue to have access to premium content along with the same services.
The transaction will allow AT&T to sharpen its focus on investing in connectivity for customers. The telecom giant is committed to Latin America through its wireless business in Mexico and services for companies operating in the region.
AT&T took an impairment charge of $4.6 billion in the second quarter of 2021, as it had classified Vrio as “held-for-sale”. The figure includes $2.1 billion in accumulated foreign currency translation adjustments.
The deal, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to be closed in early 2022.
AT&T is set to report second-quarter results today, before the opening bell.
The company’s shares have declined 6.7% in the past year against 4.3% growth of the industry.
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The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader industry are Ooma, Inc. OOMA, SeaChange International, Inc. SEAC and TESSCO Technologies Inc. TESS, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Ooma delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 65.5%, on average.
SeaChange International pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 12.2%, on average.
TESSCO Technologies delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 2.5%, on average.
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