Lumen Technologies has sold its European, Middle Eastern, and African (EMEA) business to Colt Technology Services in a deal that will give the outfit $1.8 billion.
Lumen plans to use the proceeds on debt reduction, which will free the company up to fund its plans for future growth, which include a focus on Network as a Service (NaaS) – specifically, the Lumen Internet on Demand offering, fibre, and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE).
Flogging the family silver has been part of the company’s strategy over the last year as things have not been going very well for the outfit.
Lumen in November 2022 announced the exclusive arrangement for the proposed sale of its EMEA business to Colt Technology Services.
The company in 2022 also finalised the $7.5 billion sale of its incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) business, which included its consumer, small business, wholesale and mostly copper-served enterprise customers and assets in 20 states to Brightspeed, a brand new company that launched its operations last fall.
Two months earlier, Lumen closed the sale of its Latin American Business to investment firm Stonepeak for $2.7 billion.
Lumen president and CEO Kate Johnson said: “Our focus on building deep relationships with strategic partners allows us to simplify our business while delivering a seamless networking experience for our multinational customers. Through our strong relationship with Colt, both companies are well positioned for future growth.”
The company on Tuesday during its Q3 2023 earnings call also revealed plans to free up more funds by cutting four per cent of its workforce and restructuring $7 billion of existing debt.
Lumen’s most recent financial quarter saw revenue of $3.64 billion, representing a decline of 17.1 per cent compared to $4.39 billion in the year-ago period.
The company attributed about 73 per cent of its revenue declines to post-closing commercial agreements and lingering results of its divestitures.
