29 Jun 2018

US-based NII Holdings has hired financial advisory group Rothschild & Co to sell its 70% stake in Nextel Brasil, Reuters reports, citing two people with knowledge of the matter. Interested parties are understood to include Telefonica Brasil (Vivo) and minority shareholder Access Industries, which acquired its 30% stake from Scandinavian telecoms firm Ice Group earlier this month. Rothschild has yet to set a date for the delivery of bids, one of the sources added.

In July 2017 Ice Group (then known as AINMT Holdings) successfully completed the USD50 million acquisition of a 30% stake in Nextel Brasil from NII Holdings. Ice Group was given the option to invest an additional USD150 million in Nextel Brasil by 15 November 2017, in exchange for a further 30% stake. Ice appealed for an extension from NII when no deal was secured, but in February 2018 the investment agreement was formally terminated, and Ice Group duly offloaded its stake to Access Industries, a firm backed by Ukrainian-born American industrialist Len Blavatnik.