Xavier Niel takes stake in Latin America’s Millicom

Xavier Niel

French telecoms and media entrepreneur Xavier Niel has taken a 7% stake in Latin America service provider Millicom.

Niel, the owner of France’s Iliad Group, with operations in France, Poland and Italy, acquired the stake through Atlas Investissement, owned by his investment vehicle NJJ Holding.

Atlas Investissment said that it saw Millicom as “an attractive investment opportunity thanks to its strong position as a regional market leader in Latin America, high-quality assets and strong brand”.

It said that it was “supportive of the strategy Millicom presented in February 2022 and its Board and management team”, citing the latter’s “solid track record of execution, including the full exit of its African operations and the development of its Fintech activity Tigo Money”.

Millicom, which operates via the Tigo brand in a number of Latin Amercian countries, counted 40 million mobile and 4.8 million fixed customers as of Q3.

In the fixed arena, Millicom operates FTTH an HFC cable networks that pass 12.4 million homes with 8.6 million revenue generating units.

The group’s Q3 revenue increased 37.9% year-on-year to US$1,388 million, while service revenue increased 34.5% to US$1,280 million.

The group offers pay TV via the TIGO ONEtv brand.

Niel, whose Iliad Telecom recently acquired Liberty Global’s UPC Poland to merge with its existing mobile operator Play in Poland, in September acquired a 2.5% stake in Vodafone, also via Atlas Investissement.