TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDER Digicel yesterday abruptly abandoned plans to raise up to US$2.2 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) of 142 million shares that were to have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
And while Denis O’Brien, chairman of the Irish company that operates in Barbados, said the move was due to “recent volatility in equity markets” and would not affect Digicel’s growth plans, international market analysts said the decision would hurt the company whenever it decided to return to the IPO.
It was only on September 22 that Digicel Group Limited issued a 356-page prospectus detailing the share offer.
“We intend to use approximately US$1.3 billion of net proceeds from this offering to repay or retire our existing indebtedness and pay any breakage costs, including pre-payment premiums,” the prospectus stated.
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