EPM’s sale of UNE Shares to TIGO Advances to Final Stages

EPM‘s board of directors has officially approved a Disposal Program aimed at selling 100% of its shareholding in UNE EPM Telecomunicaciones S.A. (UNE). The sale involves 5,015,035 shares, representing 50.00001% of the company’s subscribed and paid-in capital. The board has set the sale price for each share at $418,741 USD.

UNE EPM Telecomunicaciones S.A. is currently undergoing a period of economic recovery and stabilization, prompting discussions about the initiation of the sale process. Meanwhile, EPM has sufficient time to exercise its exit rights as specified in the Shareholders’ Agreement, indicating a strategic move in response to the current market conditions.

On August 21, 2024, the Council of Medellín approved, in second debate, by 16 votes in favor and 5 against, the sale of EPM’s non-controlling shareholding in UNE EPM Telecomunicaciones S.A. (UNE) and Inversiones Telco S.A.S (Invertelco).

What’s next in the process of alienation

Following the approval of the Disposal Program by the board of directors and the setting of the sale price of the shares, EPM will move forward with the temporary registration of the shares of UNE EPM Telecomunicaciones S.A. (UNE) in the National Registry of Issuers and Securities and, after that, will execute the sale process, as established in Law 226 of 1995. Like this:

First stage: the shares will be offered at the price set by the board of directors to the recipients of special conditions, among whom are the company’s active and retired workers, associations of employees or former employees, workers’ unions, employee funds, severance, and pension funds and cooperative entities, among others, from the list contained in Article 3 of the same Law 226.

This stage is expected to take place during the last quarter of 2025, and the recipients of special conditions will have a period of two months, from the launch of the offer, to submit their acceptances.

If not all the shares are sold in the first stage, the remaining shares may be offered to the public during the next stage.

Second stage: the actions will be available to the public. Any natural and/or legal person who meets the conditions established in the regulations of this stage may participate in this stage. Its execution is projected for the first months of 2026.

EPM says that it will in due course publish the regulations that will detail the conditions of each stage, the respective notices with which each of them begins, in addition to the relevant information that may have an impact on the sale process.

Subsequent stages

If the sale of EPM’s shares is not achieved in the two stages described above, the shareholders’ agreement and the bylaws of UNE EPM Telecomunicaciones S.A. (UNE) establish a right of first refusal for the controlling shareholders. With this, Millicom has the possibility of directly acquiring EPM’s shares in the company.

If Millicom does not make use of this right of pre-emption as a controlling shareholder, EPM could subsequently link it to the sale and jointly offer the entire shareholding held by both shareholders in UNE EPM Telecomunicaciones S.A. (UNE). This is possible thanks to the clause for the protection of public assets that is in force until December 31, 2026.

Federico Gutiérrez Zuluaga, mayor of Medellín, and John Maya Salazar, general manager of EPM. Photo credit: EPM.