NEW YORK—Attempting to decrease its exposure to Argentina’s financial troubles, Verizon Communications transferred 5.5 million shares in wireless communications company CTI Holdings S.A. to a newly created trust for CTI employees.
The trust will distribute the shares to a program to be developed by CTI to give employees an equity-based stake in the company and decrease Verizon’s ownership stake from 65 percent to 48 percent.
“Our actions will help Verizon minimize future risks associated with this investment,” said Fares Salloum, president of Verizon International. “At the same time, we are providing CTI’s employees with the potential of an additional financial incentive to strengthen CTI during a critical period for the economy of Argentina.”
Verizon also reduced its representation on the CTI board of directors from a maximum of five directors on the nine-member body to a maximum of four directors.
