DoJ okays Liberty Latin America acquisition of AT&T operations in Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands

Liberty Latin America Ltd. (NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK, OTC Link: LILAB) has entered into a consent judgment with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) that clears the way toward closing its acquisition of AT&T’s wireless and wireline operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The consent judgment requires Liberty Latin America to divest certain B2B operations in Puerto Rico. Liberty Latin America and AT&T now expect to close the deal October 31.

The two companies announced the deal a little over a year ago. The agreement calls for Liberty Latin America to pay $1.95 billion in cash for the assets, which it will add to its existing operations in more than 20 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean. The company offers such consumer brands as VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil, BTC, UTS, and Cabletica. Liberty Latin America also operates undersea and terrestrial fiber-optic cable networks that connect more than 40 markets in the region. The company spun out of Liberty Global at the beginning of 2018 (see "Liberty completes LatAm spin-off"). It subsequently purchased an 80% stake in Cost Rican cableco Cabletica (see "Liberty buying 80% stake in Costa Rican cable op")

Despite selling its assets in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AT&T will retain FirstNet responsibilities and relationships as well as DIRECTV and certain global business customer relationships. Liberty Latin America will support AT&T’s FirstNet build in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands after the deal closes.