Millicom International Cellular S.A. ( TIGO ) shares are trading higher on Friday.

Billionaire Xavier Niel reportedly increased his bid for Millicom International to approximately $4.4 billion after the Latin American phone carrier rejected an earlier offer as insufficient.

Niel’s Atlas Luxco Sarl has now proposed $25.75 per share in cash, up from the previous $24 per share, reported BNN Bloomberg.

Millicom’s independent board committee had previously rejected this bid, with Atlas initially arguing that there were no new reasons justifying a higher price.

Meanwhile, the company reported quarterly earnings per share of 46 cents, missing the street view of 54 cents. Quarterly sales of $1.458 billion missed the analyst consensus of $1.483 billion.

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“Millicom has undergone an important transformation aimed at significantly increasing the company’s equity free cash flow generation. These efforts began to pay off in Q2, with EBITDA up almost 20% organically, EFCF of $268 million and leverage down significantly to 2.77x, putting the company on track to achieve its 2024 targets,” said  Chief Executive Officer Marcelo Benitez.

The company said it is prioritizing ARPU growth in Mobile, reducing churn in Home, and accelerating growth in B2B.

The company is also making return-focused investments to sustain market position and drive customer growth in the second half of 2024. All these actions are designed to ensure continued EFCF growth in 2025 and beyond, in line with the long-term plan, Millicom said.

Millicom targets equity-free cash flow above $600 million in 2024, excluding proceeds for the previously-announced tower sale in Colombia. Millicom also targets leverage to near 2.5x at year-end 2024.

Price Action: TIGO shares are trading higher by 5.81% to $26.04 at last check Friday.

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