Digicel Gets Away US$1.4bn Bond Issue

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore, London

26 February 2007

Caribbean telecoms operator holding company Digicel Group, which is incorporated in Bermuda and has operations in twenty two markets, last week sold US$1.4bn of fixed-rate bonds, to allow Irish shareholder Denis O'Brien to buy out 22% minority holdings in operator Digicel Ltd.

The Groups's markets include Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, Curaçao, The Cayman Islands, Dominica, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos and El Salvador. Digicel also has a license in Guatemala and coverage in St. Martin and St. Barths.

US$1bn of the bonds, due in 2015, were sold at 8.875%, with the balance in the form of PIK bonds priced at 4.40% over 10-year Treasuries, initially 9.125% (such bonds allow the issuer to pay interest in the form of additional bonds if desired). Yields on the bonds were originally set to be somewhat higher. The company is highly leveraged and rated Caa2 by Moody’s.

The company said that Digicel Group is offering to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Digicel Ltd for cash.

Digicel Group announced in January that it had achieved record growth in 2006, ending the year with a total investment in the Caribbean region exceeding US $1.5 billion and more than 4.0 million customers.

"Digicel's progress in 2006 reinforced our position as the largest GSM provider in the Caribbean region, with sustained growth in our existing markets and unrivaled growth through our entrance into new markets, such as Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and El Salvador," said Colm Delves, Digicel Group CEO.

Digicel achieved a number of key milestones in 2006. including:

  • New Mobile Markets: Since launching Haiti operations in May 2006, Digicel rapidly gained market share reaching one million customers by year end. In Haiti, a country with a population of 8.5 million and combined fixed and cellular penetration of 5.7%, Digicel brought an unprecedented investment of US $260 million to the developing nation - the largest investment ever made in the country by an international company. Digicel also launched new telecommunications services in additional markets, including Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos and Bonaire.
  • Strategic Acquisitions: In October 2006, Digicel acquired El Salvador mobile operator Digicel Holdings Limited, marking the company's first entry into the burgeoning Central American mobile telecommunications market. In November 2006, Digicel acquired U Mobile in Guyana and has plans to re-brand-that business later this year. In the first half of 2006, Digicel acquired Bouygues Telecom Caraibe, which extended the company's mobile operations to Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana.
  • Technical Innovation: Digicel continued to significantly expand its product portfolio and customer offerings, introducing many first to market innovations such as Credit Me/Credit U top up, Missed Call Alerts, CaribFlex (allowing credit to be added to Digicel phones from the UK), Push-to-Talk, as well as introducing new BlackBerry devices including the cutting-edge BlackBerry Connect. The rollout of Digicel's WiMAX technology brought the service to new regions.
  • Employees: In response to the company's rapid growth in the Caribbean, Bermuda, and South and Central America, Digicel reached a 3,000 employee milestone and introduced the one-of-its-kind company-wide employee share option program, designed to reward each Digicel employee for their outstanding contributions to the company's business success.
  • Capital Markets and Bond Offering: Digicel closed a US $150 million bond offering in August 2006 to fuel strategic growth opportunities in Haiti and Trinidad & Tobago. Led by investment banks Citigroup and J.P. Morgan, the bond financing represented strong investor confidence in the company's continued expansion efforts in both countries.

"2006 had several major achievements and milestones for Digicel" said Delves. "We look forward to 2007 and continuing our ambitious growth in key target markets."

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