Telefonica de Espana SA has sold its Sintel subsidiary to US company MasTec Inc, headed by prominent Cuban exile Jorge Mas Canosa, for $39.3m. Sintel made a loss of $13.6m in 1995 on sales of $390.4m, but this was after absorbing lay-off costs of $26.5m. Telefonica said it had had to choose between slimming down Sintel or selling it and opted for the latter because it was of little strategic value. It said it had injected liquidity by paying Sintel a tax credit due for 1995 of $338,000, buying buildings and assets for $872,000 and undertaking to buy work and goods valued at $43.6m over the next three years.
