Columbus International bought for $3.02B by Cable and Wireless Communications

LONDON and BARBADOS – Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) is buying Columbus International for US $3.02B in a move that it says will help to accelerate its growth strategy in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Thursday’s announcement says that the increased scale and capabilities of the combined company “will provide the technical platform and financial capacity to help enable CWC to drive greater innovation and expand our geographic footprint” in addition to generating material operating cost and capital expenditure synergies. CWC currently serves over 5.6 million customers in 16 countries.

The proposed combination of CWC’s mobile footprint and existing fixed line infrastructure with Columbus’ pay TV capabilities and next-generation, state-of-the-art fibre networks will significantly expand the product and service offerings for customers, plus advance the companies’ quad play ambitions, the announcement continues. The combined business will also deliver the benefits of superior quality network infrastructure, fixed-mobile products and bundles, top notch TV content at competitive rates, and a more attractive portfolio of products and services in the B2B and B2G segments.

CWC CEO Phil Bentley described the deal as “a transaction that transforms CWC”.

“This is a significant opportunity to better serve our customers and improve the ICT infrastructure of the communities in which we operate, whilst accelerating our strategy and delivering materially enhanced returns and synergy benefits”, he said in the announcement.

“Together we will form a truly world-class company focused on our customers in the Caribbean, Central America and the Andean regions”, added Columbus’ chairman and CEO Brendan Paddick. “The proposed transaction reinforces our commitment to transform connectivity in the region, to increase the attractiveness of the region to investors, to support the growth of the communities we serve by making them more globally accessible and to ensure that our customers always have access to the best products and services available.”