US telco Cincinnati Bell has said its data centre business CyrusOne has commenced its initial public offering that could raise US$342m.
The estimated price range for the IPO is US$16.00 to US$18.00 per share. With 18,975,000 CyrusOne shares on offer…
US telco Cincinnati Bell has said its data centre business CyrusOne has commenced its initial public offering that could raise US$342m.
The estimated price range for the IPO is US$16.00 to US$18.00 per share. With 18,975,000 CyrusOne shares on offer this could net Cincinnati Bell between US$304m and US$342m.
Morgan Stanley and BofA Merrill Lynch are bookrunners for the offering.
Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Citigroup, Keybanc Capital Markets, RBS and UBS are also underwriting the offering.
Upon completion of the offering Cincinnati Bell expects to own 71.6% of the unit.
The flotation will be close to a year in the making, with Cincinnati Bell first looking at the possibility in February last year. It announced its intention to partially list the data centre business in August and the telco said a portion of the proceeds from the IPO will be used to repay outstanding debts owed to it by CyrusOne.
When CyrusOne announced it would list, it said it intended to operate as a real estate investment trust (Reit), according to its SEC filing. Reits receive special tax considerations and typically offer investors high yields as they have to distribute a minimum of 90% of their taxable profits as dividends.
Cincinnati Bell originally said it expected to raise US$300m from the flotation and for the unit to be ready to list in the fourth quarter of 2012.
CyrusOne will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “CONE”.
Cincinnati Bell primarily offers fixed-line and mobile services, but has also branched out into IPTV and payphones. It offers services in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky and reported revenues of US$1.46bn for 2011; CyrusOne generated US$181.7m of that.
