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CWC's pounds sterling 640M to hang up its exotic assets
Dec 04, 2012 (Daily Mail - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
CABLE & Wireless Communications has agreed a deal worth up almost pounds sterling 640m to sell far-flung telecoms businesses from Monaco to the Maldives.
Bahraini group Batelco will pay pounds sterling 423m for businesses including CWC's operations in the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, the Seychelles, Maldives, Falkland Islands, Ascension Islands, St Helena and Diego Garcia. It will also get a 25pc stake in Compagnie Monegasque de Communication (CMC), which houses CWC's 55pc interest in Monaco Telecom.
CWC also has the option to sell the remaining 75pc of CMC to Batelco for a further pounds sterling 215m, subject to approval from regulators and the Principality of Monaco.
The telecoms firm, formed when Cable & Wireless split its international and domestic operations in 2010, said the first phase of the deal would reduce its net debt by pounds sterling 400m to pounds sterling 582m.
Chief executive Tony Rice said the sale was "bang in line" with the company's strategy to focus on mobile data in the Caribbean and Latin America. The shift has seen CWC rethink ownership of complex and fixed-line voice businesses in remote parts of the world.
It is also in talks to sell its Macau business, thought to be worth around pounds sterling 500m. Rice said the sale would give him options to invest in existing businesses but also to seek out acquisitions and reduce the company's debt.
Espirito Santo analyst Nick Brown said the deal "should be received well as it has been perceived as difficult to execute due to the geographic spread of the assets and the requirement to try to align 11 governments."
He added that CWC had squeezed a good price out of Batelco, giving investors confidence the firm will repeat the trick if it goes ahead with the sale of its Macau business.
Shares climbed 0.4p to 35.1p on the news.
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