Telefónica agrees to sell Atento unit to Bain Capital

Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica said Friday it had reached a definitive agreement to sell its Atento call-center unit to private equity fund Bain Capital.

In a statement to the National Securities Commission (CNMV), Telefónica said the deal assigns an enterprise value to Atento of 1.039 billion euros. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of this year at the latest.

“The deal has been done at a better price than the market expected,” Bloomberg quoted Nuno Matias, an analyst at Espírito Santo in Lisbon as saying. “The company really needs to carry out further transactions such as the IPO in Germany in order to deleverage.”

Telefónica is offloading assets to reduce its net debt of over 58 billion euros and guarantee its credit ratings. It is in the process of launching an initial public offering of its German unit Telefónica Deutschland Holding.

Telefónica also scrapped its dividend of 1.5 euros per share for this year in order to dedicate more earnings to reducing debt.

Atento posted revenues of 1.802 billion euros last year and an operating profit in the form of OIBDA of 161 million. Net debt as of the end of June stood at 175 million euros. Atento employs 152,000 people in more than 15 countries.

Bain Capital was co-founded by US presidential candidate Mitt Romney.