Millicom subsidiary Tigo Colombia agreed to sell approximately 1,100 towers to investment company KKR, in line with a strategy to simplify its business in the country.

In a statement, Millicom noted the transaction involves Tigo Colombia handing over its assets to affiliates of investment funds managed by KKR.

KKR will lease towers to Tigo Colombia under a long-term agreement, with the exact numbers of towers to be disclosed following completion of “various closings”, subject to conditions. 

The lease obligations will be denominated in Colombian pesos, aligning with the operator’s objective to up its proportion of financing in local currency. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

There is also a plan for KKR to work with digital infrastructure platform provider Nexo LatAm to aid the implementation of its infrastructure strategy in the region. 

Millicom CEO Mauricio Ramos hailed KKR as “a leading digital infrastructure franchise with deep sector expertise and commitment to the region”, and positioned the deal as “another step towards crystallising the value of our tower sites across Latin America, simplifying our business and allowing us to focus on servicing our customers”. 

The operator pledged to focus solely on Latin America after it pulled the plug on its last African business in 2022. 

In 2023, Millicom entered discussions with Apollo Global Management and Claure Group over a potential sale, a deal which failed to materialise.