Denis O’Brien planning Digicel IPO
Published:Friday | June 26, 2015 | 12:00 AM
Digicel Group Limited, a leading mobile phone company owned by Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien, is to be taken public in an initial offering planned for New York.
The details of the offer are yet to be disclosed, but Digicel filed notice with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, saying it plans to offer Class A common shares to investors.
The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not been determined.
The company has specifically said the proceeds would not fund dividends for the owners, which is chiefly O’Brien, but would be used for capital expenditures and acquisitions and to repay existing debt.
Digicel plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DCEL.
Prior to Friday’s disclosure, O’Brien has favoured debt to finance Digicel’s operations that now span 31 markets. The company began operations in Jamaica and later branched out to the Caribbean, Central America and the Pacific. Its headquarters sits on the Kingston waterfront.
JP Morgan Securities LLC, UBS Securities LLC and Citigroup Global Markets Inc will act as joint book-running managers of the offering. Barclays Capital Inc and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC will act as bookrunners.