Telmex to Spin Off Yellow Pages Unit

The Mexican telecommunications giant Telmex plans to spin off its Yellow Pages and international operations into a new holding company called Telmex Internacional. 

“Telmex expects that the spin-off will become effective and further expects that the shares of Telmex Internacional will be delivered to Telmex shareholders in 2008,” the company said in a Dec. 21 filing with the Mexican Stock Exchange. 

Telmex expects to complete the operation sometime after the first quarter of 2008, according to news reports. 

Telmex’s directory operation, Seccion Amarilla, is by far the leading directory publisher in Mexico. The directory company also has a U.S. division (Seccion Amarilla USA), which publishes Spanish language directories throughout the United States. And the publisher has expanded into South America with competitive directory offerings in Argentina. 

What is still unclear to us is what this deal signals for the Seccion Amarilla business over the long term. Conceivably, Telmex Internacional could become a major player in PYP, IYP and local search in Mexico and South America, and could further consolidate its Spanish-language holdings in the United States.