Liberty Latin America invests in Costa Rican cable

Liberty Latin America is buying 80% of cable operator Cabletica, which provides cable television and broadband internet to over 200,000 homes in Costa Rica out of a total of 560,000.
 

The transaction is valued at $200 million, equal to 6.3 times the net income of Cabletica, which has debt of $125 million.
 

United States-based Liberty Latin America provides digital video, broadband internet, and telephony for retail and business customers in 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, via an undersea and terrestrial fiber-optic network.
 

Liberty Latin America trades two classes of common shares on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbols "LILA" (Class A) and "LILAK" (Class C), and one on the OTC market under the symbol "LILAB" (Class B).
 

The CEO of Liberty Latin America is Balan Nair, who previously servied as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, responsible for product development, IT, network operations, supply chain, and venture investments.
 

Nair spent more than 12 years at Qwest Communications International, most recently as Chief Information and Technology Officer.
 

Liberty in 2017 had an operating loss of $148 million on revenue of $3.6 billion, according to Business Wire.
 

Televisora de Costa Rica, the previous majority owner of Cabletica, will retain a 20% share of the company, along with its content assets.
 

Founded in 1958 by the Picado family, Televisora operations include Costa Rican broadcast television channels, and digital media.