MONTREAL-Canadian company Telesystem International Wireless said it sold its 49-percent stake in Telpart Participacoes, which controls Brazilian operators Telemig Celular Participacoes and Tele Norte Celular Partcicipacoes, to Highlake International Business Company for $70 million.
Highlake is an affiliate of Opportunity Fund, and outstanding litigation between TIW and Opportunity Fund has been settled as part of the transaction.
Of the $70 million payment, $5 million was paid by Telemig and Tele Norte, also known as Amazonia Celular, for release of claims for technical services.
TIW will apply a portion of the net proceeds of the sale to repay outstanding debts, and the remainder of the funds will be used to redeem outstanding senior guaranteed notes.
Telpart owns 52.07 percent of Telemig and 51.86 percent of Tele Norte. TIW has been looking to sell its Brazilian assets for more than a year. In August 2002, TIW took a $129.6 million non-cash charge against its Brazilian wireless business, which was being treated as a discontinued operation.
