Debate postponed in the Medellín Council on sale of UNE

Councilman Simon Pérez Londoño revealed that Millicom, a Luxembourg company that is in the process of buying UNE, sent an email requesting that the deadline for answering questions about the acquisition of the telecommunications firm be postponed until next week.

In itself, the debate has been very long since the Council of Medellín, which is why the mayor of the capital of Antioquia, Daniel Quintero, asked that this TIGO - UNE procedure be expedited:

According to the Public Companies of Medellín, EPM, on Thursday, April 21, presented to the Council the valuation of its shareholding in Intervelco and UNE. The figures presented in conjunction with BTG Pactual, investment banking, estimate that they are worth between 2.3 billion and 2.8 trillion pesos.

Both the EPM board of directors and Mayor Quintero assured that the money raised in this operation will help finance the works of the 'Hidroituango' megaproject: “Resources from the disposals, expected to be received between 2023 and 2024, will enter the EPM budget and would be an important source of resources for the implementation of its investment plan for the coming years”.

In fact, the Council of Medellin itself issued a statement, after the confirmation of the postponement. They explain that since April 5, a letter signed by the 19 city councillors was sent to Millicom. This contains a request on the extension of the deadline for EPM to exercise its right to leave the company UNE.

“In response to this request, an email was received today, April 22, from Esteban Iriarte, CEO of Milicom, requesting a deadline “for the first days of next week”, the Council considered it appropriate to postpone the first debate on Draft Agreement 065 of 2021, which authorizes the alienation of shareholdings””, it reads.

This postponement has no date or time yet, but it is presumed that one of the reasons for the postponement is uncertainty about a clause, which states that EPM gives Millicom the guarantee to buy the shares on a preferential basis; which would allow to have a “reasonable sale” of its assets, a fact that would help to have more “real” and fair prices, compared to the market in general.

The controversial business has been attempted since 2021, but at that time, Daniel Quintero's administration did not have a majority in the city council. In fact, at that time, the project almost collapsed due to the negative vote of the opposition in the corporation. Currently, the picture is very different: it should be noted that if you have the majority of the vote in the committee that is debating the draft, it would go to the plenary where, it is estimated, it would be approved, because in this instance, President Quintero, has the majorities.

The resolution of the lengthy project, if the sale is approved, would pass to an approval by the board of directors of the Public Companies of Medellín, which will assess the prices and conditions of the shares for sale.

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