(Bloomberg) -- Millicom International Cellular SA rejected a raised offer from billionaire Xavier Niel who is seeking to buy the Latin American phone carrier for $4.4 billion.
Niel’s Atlas Luxco Sarl last week offered $25.75 a share in cash for Millicom, which improved on a previous offer of $24 a share after the company’s independent board committee dismissed the initial offer as too low. In a statement published Friday, Millicom said the committee thinks the price offered remains unsatisfactory since it “continues to be well below trading multiples for comparable listed companies.”
Atlas has previously said it would seek to expand the reach and capacity of Millicom’s networks and distribution capabilities to grow its customer base. The carrier, which provides fixed and mobile telecom services under the Tigo brand to more than 50 million subscribers in Latin America, was in talks last year on a possible sale to Apollo Global Management Inc. and Claure Group. Niel took a stake in the company amid those discussions, and his investment company is Millicom’s largest shareholder.
Millicom shares fell 0.5% to 268.80 Swedish kronor ($25.53) as of 2:23 p.m. in Stockholm.
Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc are acting as financial advisors to Millicom, and the independent board committee enlisted Nordea Bank Abp’s Corporate Finance unit in Stockholm to provide a fairness opinion on the offer. Nordea’s conclusion was that the offer wasn’t fair, from a financial point of view, for Millicom’s shareholders.
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