March 09 18, 2010-Bridgetown, Barbados
Columbus International Inc. (“Columbus”) today announced that on November 20, 2009 it closed the issuance of a US$450,000,000 corporate bond offering of senior secured notes. The bonds were issued on a 5-year, non-call-for-life basis and were sold with an 11.5% coupon and priced at par.
The transaction was lead by Citi Group with RBC Capital Markets and Standard Bank acting as joint book-running managers. The bonds were sold following a deal road show conducted by management in London, Boston, New York, Toronto, San Francisco and Los Angeles from November 4 to 12, 2009.
The proceeds of the offering were used to retire all senior bank indebtedness at the Columbus parent company level, as well as at its wholly owned subsidiaries, Columbus Networks, Ltd. and Columbus Communications Jamaica Ltd, doing business as Flow Jamaica. To facilitate the bond offering, Columbus successfully amended its US$135,000,000 senior secured credit facilities in Trinidad and Grenada. Columbus also redeemed US$35,000,000 of convertible preferred shares.
Commenting on the transactions, Columbus Chief Executive Officer, Brendan Paddick stated “The successful closing of this significant financing is a true milestone in Columbus’ history…we understand it to represent the largest inaugural bond offering ever completed by a private company in the region. In essence, the public markets have spoken and have validated both Columbus’ vision and its business plan. With the offering being approximately two times oversubscribed, Columbus has attracted a stable of world-class financial sponsors to work with our Company as we continue to aggressively expand and invest in the Caribbean and Latin American marketplace. Columbus is truly poised for future growth and continued network investment.”
Columbus, which operates under the brand Flow in Trinidad, will continue with the aggressive rebuild and expansion of its service footprint across the country. Columbus will invest ~TT$250M in 2010, bringing the amount of invested capital to ~TT$1B since 2005. John Reid, Flow’s President reported that the Company is pleased with the result of the recent corporate financing activities, indicating that “our employees are very excited to continue with our investment in Trinidad, and that customers will to see this investment realized in the form of new products and services that we will introduce during 2010”. Reid added that, “Flow, having built a strong financial foundation over the first five years in Trinidad, will continue to solidify its position as the leading Cable Television and Broadband company in this market”.
The bonds were not registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and were offered and sold by Columbus outside the US under Regulation S, and in the US in a transaction exempt from registration under the US Securities Act. The bonds may not be offered or sold in the US absent registration under, or an applicable exemption from, the registration requirements of the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Columbus International Inc. is a privately held corporation and, through its subsidiaries, is a leading provider of broadband capacity services and retail broadband-enabled services to commercial and retail customers in, or operating in, the Caribbean, Latin America and North America markets.
Through our wholly owned operating subsidiary, Columbus Networks, Ltd., we are a leading provider of advanced, point-to-point, clear channel wholesale broadband capacity services and Internet Protocol (“IP”) services to telecommunications carriers, Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) and large corporations operating in 22 countries and territories in the Caribbean, Latin America and North America. We own and operate the most advanced multi-ring configured, subsea fiber optic cable network in the Caribbean and Latin America. We are also the leading provider of retail triple play services, including digital cable television, IP telephony services and high speed Internet (“HSI”) access to retail and commercial customers in Trinidad, Jamaica, Grenada and Curacao. We offer these services under the unified brand name “Flow…Watch, Talk, Click”.
For more information see www.columbuscommunications.com