Telefónica Weighs Sale of Venezuelan Telecom Unit After 35 Years

Telefónica SA is considering kicking off a sales process for its Venezuelan unit, according to people familiar with the matter, further shrinking the Spanish carrier’s presence in Latin America.

The telecommunications operator aims to exit the South American nation within the next year but is waiting for the right window to start a sale, said the people, who asked not to be named as the matter isn’t public. Any deal will only be done with the backing of the US and Venezuelan administrations, one of the people said.

The decision comes after the company received unsolicited approaches from potential buyers, said the people. Among the parties with whom tentative discussions took place were executives at Latin America Real Assets Opportunities (LARA) Fund, a Miami-based private equity vehicle co-founded by Mauricio Claver-Carone, but they didn’t proceed further, said the people.

“We are not actively pursuing any deals in Venezuela. We have our hands full closing some deals in other countries,” said Claver-Carone, a former special envoy to Latin America for the Trump administration.

Telefónica declined to comment.

The carrier is aiming for a competitive process among several bidders rather than courting a single buyer, one of the people said. No decision has been made and Telefónica could chose not to sell the unit.

Telefónica, formerly one of the biggest telecommunications players in Latin America, has been working to cut its presence in the Spanish-speaking parts of the region as it refocuses on its core markets of Europe and Brazil, shrinking its units there from 14 in 2019 to three. The firm entered Venezuela in 1991.

The company announced in late 2019 that it planned to exit most of those units, and the divestments have accelerated since January 2025, steered by current Executive Chairman Marc Murtra.

Shedding Venezuela has proven more complicated than neighboring markets due to political and economic turmoil in the country. US troops captured and deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January.

Following Maduro’s removal, Venezuela has been rapidly opening to new investments in the oil and gas sector, with many companies including TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil either signing deals or signaling plans to start doing business in the country. Investments in other sectors have been slower to take off.

Years of economic turmoil, limited official data and a complex legal and sanctions environment have made due diligence difficult for potential investors, though the government has begun easing some of those constraints as it seeks to attract foreign capital.

Telefónica wrote down the value of its Venezuela unit by $2.8 billion in early 2015, due to changes in how the value of the bolivar was calculated.