Latin America. Vrio Corp, a company that brings together the Latin American operations of DirecTV and Sky Brasil, owned by AT&T, has been 100% acquired by the Werthein Group, a private holding company with experience in telecommunications, financial market, insurance, agricultural production and real estate.
Grupo Werthein is left with 10.3 million subscribers in 11 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Vrio's infrastructure includes satellites and state-of-the-art transmission centers, thanks to which it is possible to deliver a wide variety of content to homes, in 4k format. Vrio's broadband operations, along with other investments such as Tournaments and Competitions in Argentina and WIN Sports in Colombia, will be transferred to the Werthein Group upon closing of the transaction.
"Our vision of the future will be to take care of and enhance the leading entertainment brands, maintain their leadership and grow in the value proposition, investing in technology and content, aligned with the habits of each of our subscribers and especially, of the new generations," said Dario Werthein, shareholder, Werthein Group.
AT&T and Werthein Group are committed to making a smooth transition and maintaining the best customer experience. Once the transaction is complete, Vrio subscribers will continue to have access to premium content and the same services, the same channel line, content offerings, and the same customer support experience.
Until the closing of this transaction, and as they have done so far, the collaborators will continue to work for Vrio, with the focus and commitment to be leaders in the entertainment industry. The collaborators, based in the region and working for Vrio's operations today, will become part of the Werthein Group team when it closes. AT&T and Grupo Werthein agreed to have transition services under which AT&T will provide support, such as billing, infrastructure and software support to Grupo Werthein for approximately three years after the closing of the transaction.
Considering this transaction, AT&T classified Vrio as "asset-for-sale" as of June 30, 2021 and reported such assets at fair value minus cost of sale, resulting in an impairment of $4.6 billion, including $2.1 billion related to cumulative foreign currency conversion adjustments. The companies expect the transaction to close in early 2022.
