Before deciding to sell a portfolio of businesses in 12 countries to Batelco, UK listed telco CWC had received expressions of interest for the assets from several other parties.
Sheldon Bruha, CWC’s group director corporate finance, said in a Q&A to…
Before deciding to sell a portfolio of businesses in 12 countries to Batelco, UK listed telco CWC had received expressions of interest for the assets from several other parties.
Sheldon Bruha, CWC’s group director corporate finance, said in a Q&A to be published in this week’s edition of TelecomFinance magazine that the company had “received approaches on both an aggregate basis and in terms of certain different aspects of this portfolio”.
CWC decided to sell the Monaco & Islands unit in a single package because Batelco offered an attractive price for the asset and because CWC considered this to be a “holistic solution” for the unit.
Bruha said talks with Batelco took about eight months before agreeing on the deal, although a source close to Batelco said the company had first considered the assets almost two years ago.
If the transaction agreement is fully exercised CWC will receive US$1.025bn from the buyer. According to the deal terms Batelco initially pays US$680m for the assets in the Maldives, Channel Islands and Isle of Man, the Seychelles, South Atlantic territories and Diego Garcia.
CWC is also selling a 25% shareholding in Compagnie Monagesque de Communications (CMC), which holds its 55% interest in Monaco Telecom.
Under a put and call arrangement the remaining 75% of CMC can be transferred to Batelco for a further US$345m at a later stage, in which case Batelco would take control of Monaco Telecom and CWC’s minority stake in Afghan operator Roshan. If this option is not exercised, the 25% shareholding in CMC will be sold back to CWC for US$100m.
Sheldon Burha said that the deal structure takes into account that regulatory approvals for the 12 assets being sold to Batelco will come at different times.
“We didn’t want smaller companies to compromise the entire transaction,” he told TelecomFinance. “So closing will occur once the two principal businesses – Guernsey and Maldives – are ready to close. Any other businesses for which consent has already been obtained will close at the same time. Others that aren’t yet ready will close later, with consideration for them being delayed accordingly.”
The sale of Monaco Telecom was structured separately because it operates in several jurisdictions. The arrangement gives “more time to have the discussions with the multiple stakeholders involved there,” he said.
The full interview will be published in TelecomFinance magazine 207, out Friday.
