Ligga sole bidder for Oi’s fiber base with offer far below minimum price

Brazilian internet service provider Ligga Telecomunicações was the sole bidder for Oi’s fiber broadband client base (ClientCo) in a competitive process that is part of Oi’s second judicial reorganization proceedings.

Envelope opening in the closed proposals tender process took place on Wednesday. Bids by more interested companies were expected but did not materialize.

The Paraná-based carrier offered 1.03bn reais (US$188mn) for ClientCo, more than 86% below the established minimum price of 7.3bn reais, to be paid in cash and national currency, Oi said in a market filing.

Despite the proposal coming in well below the minimum, the judicial reorganization court allowed the process to be suspended so the offer can be analyzed by Oi's creditors.

There were rumors in the market that Oi was asking for a price that excessively overvalued the operation, especially given the loss of subscribers in recent months and the operator's low investment in the assets.

Under the terms of the tender, neutral network V.tal would be allowed to bid only in a second round. V.tal is a JV created following the partial sale of Oi's fiber infrastructure network to funds linked to BTG Pactual in a previous tender.

As reported exclusively by BNamericas, V.tal signed an MOU with Ligga to acquire the internet service provider.