Digicel ditches plans for shares sale
Denis O’Brien, Digicel Chairman
(CNS Business): Regional telecommunications provider Digicel has ditched its plans for an international public offering of its shares, the firm said Tuesday, despite what it claimed had been “significant support … from a high quality group of investors during the marketing period”. Digicel said that current conditions, particularly in emerging markets, had impacted transaction momentum over recent days and therefore the plans were being shelved.
“Recent volatility in equity markets has seen a number of IPOs listing at a discount to their signalled price range and this was a less attractive route for us,” said Denis O’Brien, the firm’s Chairman. “Digicel is now at a key juncture in our growth story following a $1.5 billion investment programme over the past three years; we generate strong and growing free cash flow and we have no material debt maturities until 2021. Our growth plans remain unchanged and we remain in a strong position to exploit areas of interest in Data, Business Solutions, Cable TV and Broadband.”
Currently providing services in 31 markets in the Caribbean and the South Pacific regions, the company has indicated that it will proceed with the IPO when market conditions improve.
The process had been initiated some six months ago and the firm had expected to raise as much as $2 billion. $1.3 billion of the sale was earmarked to repay some of its $6.5 billion debt and the rest to finance expansions.
Category: Caribbean Business, ICT, Technology, World Business
