Merger hiccups

THE MERGER between Digicel and Claro seemed to have hit a snag after the competition watchdog in El Salvador rejected the proposed merger.

A report on mobile industry website www.wirelessfederation.com said "Superintendencia de Competencia (SC), which is the competition watchdog of El Salvador, has rejected the proposed merger of America Movil's local subsidiary Claro with Digicel."

The report said that "America Movil has agreed to buy Digicel's businesses in El Salvador and Honduras. The company filed for regulatory approval on April 1."

"As per SC's current decision, Claro and Digicel will have to restart the merger application process," the report continued.

"According to SC, the companies failed to submit the complete information related to the merger process. It added that this inadmissibility does not mean that the merger has been rejected, but rather that the two companies must restart the merger application process," the report ended.

However, a statement from Digicel to The Gleaner said that the application has not been refused and they have resubmitted the document which caused the hiccup. Digicel said it was one document which caused the delay.

"The application has not been refused. This is a procedural matter. The application was required to be resubmitted as certain documents were required to be translated. This has now been done and we are confident that we will obtain the necessary approvals in due course."