Denis O'Brien's Caribbean mobile phone company Digicel has raised $300m in capital through a corporate bond offering as part of its continued growth strategy.
The bond financing was raised through investment banks Citigroup and JP Morgan and was oversubscriped by more than ten times.
Digicel said the the new financing will be used to expand services in Trinidad & Tobago, to repay loans and to fund the recently acquired Cingular Wireless assets in the Caribbean and Bermuda - pending regulatory approval.
'We are greatly encouraged by the response we have seen from this funding initiative. We are now in an even more strategic position to move into our next expansion phase,' commented Digicel Chairman Denis O'Brien.
Digicel is incorporated in Bermuda and operates in eight countries including Aruba, Barbados, Curaçao, The Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines with plans to launch in Trinidad & Tobago. It is also in the process of buying Cingular Wireless' Bermuda and Caribbean operations that will significantly increase the size of its network to include Bermuda, Anguilla, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica.
Digicel was launched in 2001 and now employs more than 1,000 people.
