Diversified telco Columbus has agreed to buy Colombian infrastructure provider Lazus from London-based investment manager Ashmore Group.
Lazus has 3,500km of fibre across 12 cities which passes 23 million people. Its business is focused on Colombia but…
Diversified telco Columbus has agreed to buy Colombian infrastructure provider Lazus from London-based investment manager Ashmore Group.
Lazus has 3,500km of fibre across 12 cities which passes 23 million people. Its business is focused on Colombia but it also has operations in Panama and Puerto Rico.
The head of Bahamas-based Columbus, Brendan Paddick, said that his company would add Lazus’ network infrastructure to its enterprise unit “to deliver next generation, business class telecom services to the rapidly growing business community in Colombia”.
The companies did not disclose the value of the deal. Camilo Villaveces, CEO of the British firm’s local subsidiary Ashmore Colombia, commented: “We are also are delighted to have secured an attractive return from the sale of Lazus for both our investors in FIC I and our co-investors who supported us in this transaction.”
Ashmore manages more than US$75bn across the globe and describes itself as one of the world’s leading emerging markets investment managers.
Columbus, registered in Barbados, has triply-play operators across a number of Caribbean islands. It also has an enterprise unit which provides connectivity and IT solutions, managed networking and cloud-based services. In addition it offers capacity and IP services, corporate data solutions and data centre hosting throughout 42 countries in the greater Caribbean, Central American and Andean region. It has 42,300 km of undersea cable and 34,300 km of terrestrial fibre.
