BARBADOS – Caribbean telco Columbus International has closed a US$1,250,000,000 bond offering of senior unsecured notes that it says will help to fund its future Caribbean-Latin America expansion plans.
The notes were issued with a 7.375% coupon, priced at par and will mature in 2021. A portion of the proceeds of the offering will be used to retire the US$640,000,000 senior secured 11.5% notes Columbus issued in 2009, as well as its US$212,000,000 senior unsecured 9.5% notes, and to fund early redemption fees on these two series of notes. The balance of the net proceeds may be applied to pay up to $100 million in dividends and for general corporate purposes, including the funding of previous acquisitions.
"The successful closing of this significant financing is a true milestone in Columbus' history”, said founder and chief executive officer, Brendan Paddick, in the announcement. “The markets have spoken and have validated both Columbus' vision and its business plan. The six times oversubscribed deal built an order book of close to US$8 billion, with demand from more than 300 investors around the world. Columbus has attracted a stable of world-class financial sponsors as we continue to aggressively expand and invest in the Caribbean and Latin American marketplace."
Columbus provides digital cable television, broadband Internet and digital landline telephony in Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia and Curacao under the brand name Flow and in St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Antigua under the brand name Karib Cable. The company also provides next generation connectivity and IT solutions, managed networking and cloud-based services under the brand Columbus Business Solutions. Through subsidiary Columbus Networks, it provides capacity and IP services, corporate data solutions and data centre hosting throughout 42 countries in the greater Caribbean, Central American and Andean region.
