Telefónica offloads Central American assets to Carlos Slim's América Móvil

Telefónica took a small bite out of its debt load by selling off two of its operations in Central America to América Móvil for $648 million. América Móvil, which is owned by billionaire Carlos Slim, has competed against Telefónica in Latin America for several decades, but Telefónica has struck a deal to sell its operations in Guatemala and El Salvador. Telefónica's regional subsidiary, Telefonica Centroamérica Inversiones, in which Telefónica owns a 60% stake while Corporación Multi Inversiones owns the remaining 40% stake, has reached a deal to sell all of Telefónica Guatemala and 99.3% of Telefónica El Salvador to América Móvil.