By Cassandra Garrison
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Shareholders approved a plan of America Movil (NYSE:AMX), controlled by the family of billionaire Carlos Slim, to spin off its towers business in Latin America, Mexico's biggest telecoms company said on Wednesday.
In an extraordinary general meeting, they overwhelmingly approved the spin-off, which will create a new company called Sitio Latinoamerica, America Movil said in a statement to the Mexican stock exchange.
Upon completion, Sitio Latinoamerica will own 36,000 telecommunications towers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Uruguay, the company said.
America Movil will contribute to Sitio Latinoamerica a portion of its share capital consisting mainly of shares it owns in subsidiary companies that own towers and other associated infrastructure.
The company previously said it expected to complete the reorganization this year.
Earlier on Wednesday, America Movil and Liberty Latin America announced they would combine Chilean operations to form a joint venture https://www.reuters.com/article/mexico-americamovil-liberty/america-movil-liberty-latin-america-plan-joint-venture-markets-cheer-idUSKBN2GP1LH in a move aimed at expanding fixed fiber operations and speeding up the launch of 5G services.
The transaction combines the complementary operations of Claro Chile, the Chilean subsidiary of America Movil, and VTR, Liberty Latin America's provider of high-speed products like broadband and Pay TV.
The joint venture, which was expected to generate estimated run-rate synergies of more than $180 million, excludes all telecommunication towers owned indirectly by America Movil in Chile.