O’Brien to net €500m in cash from Digicel Pacific sale


22 Feb 2010

The telecoms tycoon Denis O’Brien stands to make more than €500 million in cash from the sale of his Digicel Pacific (DPL) to its sister company, Digicel Group.

An update on the financial performance of the Digicel Group contained details of the deal, under which it will acquire more than 51pc of DPL, with the option for the remainder to be purchased at a later date. 

The transaction will value equity in DPL at US$825 million.

O’Brien owns 84pc of DPL, with the remainder of the company being held by third-party investors and management.

In November 2009, Digicel reported a 10pc increase in its half-year profit (EBITDA) to US$364 million on revenues of US$857 million.

By the end of 2009, the group had grown its subscriber base to 10.75 million subscribers.

Including Digicel’s sister companies Digicel Holdings (Central America) Limited and Digicel Pacific, Digicel now serves 32 markets in the Caribbean, Central America and the Pacific .

The wider group has shown a compound annual growth rate in subscribers of more than 40pc over the past two years.

Article courtesy of Businessandleadership.com

Photo: Digicel chairman Denis O’Brien