AT&T to take on Slim’s telecoms empire

AT&T will purchase Iusacell from Grupo Salinas in an all-cash deal that values Mexico’s number-three mobile group at $2.5 billion including net debt of $700 million.

The deal brings to an end AT&T’s decade-long partnership with Carlos Slim’s América Móvil, which began to crack in July when the US group sold its 8 percent stake in the Mexican wireless group back to the tycoon for $5.6 billion and removed its two directors from the board. AT&T sold the stake to win regulatory approval for its $48.5 billion takeover of DirectTV, the satellite group that has a presence in several Latin American countries where Slim also operates. Its purchase of Iusacell marks a swift return to Mexico, and comes amid a sweeping overhaul of the telecoms market in the country, where regulators are forcing Slim to break up his empire and sell large chunks of it to rivals to spur competition.