A few hours after the debate began in the first commission of the Medellín Council on the sale of EPM’s shares in UNE Millicom, the corporation announced that it will postpone the meeting, scheduled for 2:00 pm this Friday, April 22, until the answers that the Millicom company would give next week on fundamental aspects to make a responsible decision are known.
The announcement was made a few minutes after Councilor Simón Pérez stated that The best thing would be to postpone the meeting, because they still do not have the guarantees and the elements to make the decision that guarantees the protection of the public heritage of the city. For the moment, the corporation maintained that it will inform the new date and time of the debate in a timely manner.
This new twist is due to In the last hours, the company Millicom sent an email to the Council in which it requested until next week to answer the questions sent by the councilors a few weeks ago, among which is the possibility of renegotiating control of the telecommunications company, so that it is EPM that exercises said control and not Millicom, a private company that currently has this privilege.
In addition, They also expect the company to respond that if it is not feasible to share control, it can extend the equity protection clause, key issue in deciding whether it is convenient to approve the sale of the shares at this time.
“We call for Millicom to comply with the city next week, hopefully with a favorable response to the interests of Medellín’s public heritage,” said Pérez,
Only this Thursday, April 21, did the councilors know another key detail: the cost of the shares that EPM has in UNE Millicom and that it would sell if approved by the corporation. EPM indicated that said value ranges between $2.3 billion and $2.8 billion.
The answer that is still pending is that of Millicom, on whether or not it will extend the clause for the protection of public assets that expires in August 2024. This clause is what gives EPM the guarantee that Millicom itself will buy preferentially, which allows it to have a reasonable sale of its equity, at a fair market price.
Even Mayor Daniel Quintero, who sent a request to the multinational to extend said clause until 2027, said this week that if the clause is extended, he will withdraw the draft agreement.
The draft agreement was filed on July 26, 2021 and had an intense agenda in its first months in the Council, with 12 socialization plenaries between August 9 and October 8. The discussion stopped in the last six months because the Mayor’s Office did not have a majority in the First Commission: of seven councilors that were part of it, three were in the government coalition and four in the opposition, which anticipated the collapse of the project.
The resignation of Daniel Carvalho to aspire to the Chamber, a staunch opponent of the Quintero government, left the bets open because his successor, Simón Pérez, is more moderate in his positions.
Precisely, his decision in the debate that is projected for 2:00 pm this Friday will be the one that defines the vote, because In the Commission, a three-way tie is clear: Carlos Romero, Babinton Flórez and Aura Marleny Arcila, all from the government coalition, will say yes; while the opponents Sebastián López, Simón Molina and Daniel Duque will vote no.
If Pérez votes yes, the project will go to plenary, where the waters are more favorable to Quintero’s government coalition, which has prevailed in the election of the president of the Council and in the election of the municipal comptroller. Nevertheless, Pérez has stated several times in recent days the need to have clear answers before deciding.
In the event that the Council approves the sale, the EPM board of directors will be in charge of approving, according to market circumstances, financial results and macroeconomic conditions, the price at which the shares will be offered.