March 10 (Bloomberg) -- America Movil SAB plans to pay a one-time dividend and buy back more of its stock, rewarding investors as the Latin American wireless carrier pursues the region’s largest acquisition this year.
The board will submit the proposal for a payout of 32 centavos a share to shareholders by April 30, America Movil said yesterday. The plan would add 50 billion pesos ($3.96 billion) to the share buyback fund, which had 7.15 billion pesos remaining as of yesterday.
America Movil, controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim, is issuing debt to prepare for the cash and stock purchase of Slim’s Telmex Internacional SAB to add home-phone, Internet and TV service in Latin America in two deals valued at more than $20 billion. The company, the largest wireless carrier in the region, sold 14.9 billion pesos of bonds last week in the biggest corporate debt issue in Mexican history.
The company also plans to sell 200 million Swiss francs ($186 million) of five-year bonds as soon as today, a person familiar with the matter said yesterday.
America Movil rose 22 centavos to 30.08 pesos at 9:51 a.m. New York time in Mexico City trading. The shares had fallen 3 percent this year before today.
The company paid 50.4 billion pesos for dividends and buybacks in 2009, according to its fourth-quarter report.
--Editors: Jose Enrique Arrioja, Brendan Walsh
To contact the reporter on this story: Crayton Harrison in Mexico City at tharrison5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Julie Alnwick at jalnwick@bloomberg.net
