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Telefónica has struck a deal to sell its Argentine business for more than $1.2bn to a firm part-owned by media conglomerate Grupo Clarín, as the Spanish group’s new chair begins to reshape its operations.
On Monday night Telefónica announced the sale as the first big move by Marc Murtra, the chair and chief executive who was parachuted in by investors including the Spanish government last month to shake up the stagnating group.
The sale to Grupo Clarín, which owns many of Argentina’s largest media brands, immediately triggered antitrust concerns in Argentina, with President Javier Milei saying it “could leave approximately 70 per cent of telecommunications services in the hands of one economic group”.
Milei, whose relations with Grupo Clarín have been strained by its media brands’ coverage of his administration, issued a statement saying the deal would be subject to oversight by regulators and competition authorities.
“The government is committed to avoiding the formation of a [potential] new monopoly . . . which would go against free competition and undermine the slowing of inflation in Argentina,” it said.
Telefónica will sell its entire 100 per cent stake in its mobile, pay TV and broadband business to Telecom Argentina, in which Grupo Clarín holds a 40 per cent stake and Mexican investor David Martínez holds another 40 per cent, for $1.25bn in cash. The business does not carry significant amounts of debt.
Spain’s government has signalled that it wants Telefónica, which has a large presence in Germany and the UK as well as its home country, to become a European leader in telecommunications, which it views as a strategic sector key to security.
The Argentina sale signals that Murtra wants to accelerate Telefónica’s exit from parts of Spanish-speaking Latin America in a bid to shift the company’s geographical balance.
José María Álvarez-Pallete, Murtra’s predecessor, in 2019 launched a plan to rationalise its Latin American presence, resulting in the company’s departure from some small markets. But the process was advancing slowly.
Last week, Telefónica’s Peruvian subsidiary filed for bankruptcy as it remained locked in a dispute with the national tax authorities and laden with debt.
In Colombia, Telefónica reached a provisional agreement last year to sell its business in the country to Millicom, which is part owned by French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel. That deal is still being reviewed by authorities in Bogotá.
Brazil, however, remains a pillar of Telefónica’s business and Murtra has given no indication that he wants to reconsider its presence there.
In Argentina, Grupo Clarín’s Personal mobile brand currently competes with Telefónica’s Movistar. The other main player in the country is Claro, owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim’s América Móvil.
The group’s media assets include daily newspaper Clarín and broadcaster TN.
Relations between Grupo Clarín and Milei have deteriorated after a scandal involving the libertarian leader’s promotion of a cryptocurrency was worsened last week by the leak of footage from an interview with TN.
On Saturday, in response to criticism from a journalist on TN, Milei said on X: “Is it a coincidence that this happened on the channel of the group that wants to buy Telefónica and therefore have a monopoly on [telecoms]?”
