Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) has signed formal agreement with the government of Commonwealth of The Bahamas to complete its acquisition of a 51 percent stake in The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC).
Under the terms of the agreement, which was first announced in December when CWC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Bahaman government to purchase the stake in BTC, CWC will acquire 51 percent of the shares in BTC, including management control of the business, for $210 million.
Expected to be closed sometime in the beginning of April, CWC will pay for the acquisition with a mixture of its own existing cash and debt.
When the deal is complete, CWC will operate the company as a key element of its Caribbean business, which currently is known as its LIME brand, and has developed a restructuring plan to improve and expand its service set in addition to improving customer service.
However, a Bloomberg report pointed out that some analysts fear that restructuring BTC could prove to be a costly and difficult process for CWC.
"We fret about the costs of restructuring, and how difficult it may prove to lose staff," said Mark James, an analyst at Liberum Capital, in a research note. "There has been well-documented backlash from unions to date."
For more:
- Bloomberg has this article
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