Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) has agreed to sell off its 49% stake in Trinidad & Tobago incumbent TSTT in order to buy Caribbean cableco Columbus Communications.
The disposal, which will take place within 18 months, is a condition imposed by the…
Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) has agreed to sell off its 49% stake in Trinidad & Tobago incumbent TSTT in order to buy Caribbean cableco Columbus Communications.
The disposal, which will take place within 18 months, is a condition imposed by the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) on CWC’s acquisition of the local unit of Columbus.
CWC said the company is “confident that our shareholding in TSTT will prove attractive to a number of investors”, adding that it would work with National Enterprises Limited, the state-owned majority owner of TSTT, to “agree a fair process for disposal, as embodied in our existing shareholder agreement”.
CWC agreed to buy Columbus for US$1.85bn last November.
The cableco, which trades as Flow, is present in Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada and Curacao. It trades as Karib Cable in Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines and Antigua & Barbuda.
Evercore advised CWC, while JPMorgan provided debt financing in the form of a US$460m senior secured two-year bridge facility, a US$300m senior unsecured two-year bridge facility, a US$404m senior secured two-year bridge facility, a US$1.26bn senior unsecured on-year bridge facility and a US$500 senior secured revolving credit facility.
Columbus is advised by Citigroup, JPMorgan and RBC Capital.
