Vila-Manzano sells Supercanal to an ex-Movicom

The company provides cable television and Internet services in 14 provinces

This year is already a telecommunications initiative: at the end of June, the government approved the merger between Cablevisión and Telecom; In early July, the short law allowing telephone companies to offer pay television received half the penalty in the Senate and now the sale of Supercbad, cable and Internet service operator, founded in 1985 and present in 14 provinces .

The company, which belonged to the Vila-Manzano Group, was acquired by CVI Austral LLP, a company controlled by an investment group headed by Carlos Joost Newbery, owner of ICondor and founding member Movicom and CTI Móvil, who will serve as Chairman of the Board. He will be joined by Pablo Venturino and Mariano Gilles of White-Bridge, who participated in the structuring of the purchase with CarVal Investors.

Supercbad is headquartered in Mendoza and employs approximately 1,400 people throughout the country. Company sources revealed to LA NACION that the transfer was complete and that the operation had been discussed "for several months". They also sought to "bring the peace of mind to the families" of their employees and committed an investment of 400 million US dollars, which includes the payment by the company and the deployment of one. fiber optic network.

Participating in the arrival of cell phones in the country, Joost Newbery has never lost his links with the telecommunications sector. His name came back on the front page in June 2016, when Nextel, already in Cablevisión's control, retained all the capital of Trixco, the company it chaired, to expand its radio frequency portfolio with frequencies in the 900 bands. MHz and 2.5 GHz.

In addition, the iCondor Fund's badets include Galander Services Integrator, Southern Towers Telecommunications Infrastructure Company (manages 40 laps and provides research, construction and maintenance services to sites) and Yeap !, signature that has just committed $ 1,000 million for the deployment of a nationwide network of Internet of Things (IoT).

The transaction marks the end of the unproductive adventure of the Vila -Manzano group in the mobile phone segment. In 2015, its subsidiary Airlink has been allocated frequencies to offer 3G and 4G services, but lost these concessions due to non-payment. In the current context, CVI could insist on the provision of mobile Internet. The deal would have been advanced in January, when Supercbad would have obtained a license to operate as a virtual mobile operator.

Although it is losing its telecommunications arm, Vila-Manzano still has a media conglomerate in 17 provinces that includes communication channels. television (America, A24), newspapers (
The capital ,
UN ) and radios (The Network), among others