Eircom to raise €310m through bonds issue

30 Apr 2013

Eircom said today it plans to sell €310m worth of senior secured notes due in 2020. This is the first bonds-issue by the telco since it had €2.3bn worth of debt written off last year.

The telco said the proceeds of the offering will be used to repurchase debt under its agreement with lenders that include Blackstone Group LP.

The notes will be guaranteed on a senior secured basis by Eircom Holdings (Ireland) Ltd and subsidiaries, including Eircom Ltd.

Eircom is on the cusp of launching its fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) broadband offering, which will pass 1m homes by the end of 2014 and lead to speed increases via VDSL of between 50Mbps and 70Mbps.

As well as launching 4G services later this year, the company is planning to launch quad-play services and will begin trialling TV services in June with a view to launching them by September, at the latest, Eircom CEO Herb Hribar had told Siliconrepublic.com.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com