Friday April 30, 9:28 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: United International Holdings, Inc.
UIH Acquires 100% of Chile's Largest
Broadband Telecommunications
Company
DENVER, April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- United International Holdings, Inc. (''UIH'') (Nasdaq: UIHIA -
news) announced today that it had completed the acquisition of the remaining 60% of VTR Hipercable
S.A. (''VTR'') that it did not already own, bringing its ownership stake in Chile's largest cable television
and competitive local telephony operator to 100%.
UIH purchased the 60% stake in VTR from SBC International, Inc. and Quinenco S.A. for total
consideration of $258 million, and in the process refinanced VTR's existing bank debt and certain other
indebtedness of $125 million. As part of the financing, VTR entered into a new bank credit agreement
in the amount of $220 million, of which $145 million was drawn at closing. The balance of the new
bank facility will be used for the continued roll out of cable telephony services and general working
capital purposes.
Gene Schneider, Chairman and CEO of UIH commented, ''Gaining control of VTR is an extremely
important transaction for our company. We now own 100% of Latin America's largest and most
advanced broadband telecommunications company offering video, voice and data services.''
Mr. Schneider added, ''With a nationwide network reaching over 1.6 million homes, 390,000
multi-channel television subscribers, and a rapidly growing telephone business currently totaling 33,000
customers, VTR stands alone among Latin American cable television operators striving to deliver on
the promise of integrated broadband services.''
Mike Fries, President of UIH said, ''The tremendous values inherent in the broadband cable television
business are being widely recognized in the U.S. and Europe today. For a purchase price of $1,300 per
customer, UIH now owns one of the fastest growing cable telephony operations in the world. With
only 15% of our network rebuilt to date, VTR is adding over 4,500 new residential telephone customers
each month and rolling-out services to an additional 50,000-60,000 rebuilt homes each quarter.''
UIH also announced that it has appointed Mr. Blas Tomic as President of VTR effective today. Mr.
Tomic joined UIH in February 1999 and was, for the last five years, Executive Director of all the
telecommunications operations of Quinenco, the investment arm of the Luksic family in Chile.
Commenting on the appointment of Mr. Tomic, Mr. Fries added, ''Blas is uniquely qualified to lead
VTR as the company solidifies its leading position in the cable television business and continues its
nationwide roll-out of competitive local telecommunications services. His knowledge of the company,
industry and market will be extremely valuable to VTR.''
UIH is a leading provider of video, voice, and data services outside of the United States, with
operations in 20 countries throughout the world. UIH's operating systems cover approximately 11.8
million homes in franchise areas and 9.4 million homes passed, and serve approximately 4.4 million
video subscribers, 140,000 telephony access lines and over 36,000 internet access subscribers.
VTR will form the nucleus of UIH's Latin American operations and regional strategy, and is one of
UIH's largest consolidated operating subsidiaries. Other significant consolidated operations including
the following:
-- In February, UIH listed its European subsidiary, United Pan-Europe Communications N.V.
(UPC) (Nadsaq: UPCOY), on the Amsterdam and NASDAQ stock exchanges in a transaction
that raised over $1.5 billion. UPC is the largest pan-European broadband communications
company with cable television operations in 11 markets and telephony and high speed Internet
services in five countries. Microsoft Corporation invested $333 million in UPC's IPO and has
agreed to work with UPC on Internet/data, telephone and video projects.
-- UIH's Australian subsidiary, Austar Entertainment Pty, is the second largest multi-channel
television operator in Australia and, together with UIH's telecommunications operation in New
Zealand, forms the core of the company's Asia/Pacific business.
For additional information, please contact: Mike Fries, President of UIH, Ph: 303-220-6610, Fx:
303-770-3464, E-mail: mfries@uih.com; or Blas Tomic, President of VTR, Ph: 011-562-310-1490, Fx:
011-562-310-1560, E-mail: btomic@vtr.cl
SOURCE: United International Holdings, Inc.
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