Latest news with #Digicel
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Digicel Launches $2.7 Billion Junk-Debt Offering for Refinancing
Digicel Group Holdings Ltd. kicked off a $2.7 billion junk-debt sale as it looks to refinance bonds and loans coming due in the next few years. The mobile operator, whose business is mainly focused in the Caribbean and Central America, launched a nearly $2 billion two-part bond offering on Wednesday, as well as a $750 million term loan, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who weren't authorized to speak publicly.
Irish Times
18-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Worry for Ireland as EU prepares tariffs on US services and what next for RTÉ
The EU is preparing a list of potential tariffs on US services, as well as export controls, as part of its possible retaliation if trade talks with Washington fail, two officials briefed on the negotiations said. Such a move may mean big ramifications for Ireland given the number of US tech firms based here. Combine that with Donald Trump's threat to put tariffs on pharmaceuticals, many of which are manufactured here, and the trade war is getting worse and worse for Ireland. Staying with tariffs, Cliff Taylor assesses what the latest Trump moves are actually working for the US, while Martin Wolf outlines the absurdity of Donald Trump's trade policy and outlines how he is already reshaping world trade. Digicel, the Caribbean-based telecoms company founded by Denis O'Brien, has hired investment bankers at JP Morgan to help organise a potentially imminent refinancing of $2.3 billion (€2 billion), according to sources. Joe Brennan reports. In Business This Week, Raglan Capital boss Cathal Friel talks to Joe about his career in business and why the art of the deal matters to him more than money. READ MORE In Agenda, Ian Curran looks at where RTE stands as it deals with costs cuts and a string of reforms slated to come with the upcoming Broadcasting Bill. World of Work looks at the joy, and challenges, of being pregnant at work and what happens when an employer isn't as supportive as might be expected. Joe also reports that AIB has decided that its UK unit will report in future to the group's retail banking managing director, Geraldine Casey, in Dublin, underscoring how the business has shrunk significantly in recent times. Ireland exported goods with a total value of €134.4 billion in the first five months of the year, an increase of almost 50 per cent on the same period last year, as companies rushed to send goods to the US ahead of tariffs. The data underscores just how much of an impact tariffs have had on Irish trade already. Ian Curran reports. Killarney Brewing and Distilling (KBD) has told staff it will cease operations . The Kerry-based company, which has been in examinership, informed workers on Thursday, according to a source familiar with the business. Hugh Dooley reports on the latest grim news to hit an Irish drinks business. We hear more and more about driverless cars and autonomous driving, but why are companies so reticent about showing the human hand at work in the background? Sarah O'Connor explores why firms want to keep that hidden. Brian O'Sullivan, founder and owner of Zeus Group, has been chosen as The Irish Times Businessperson of the Month for June, an award run in association with Bank of Ireland. The Cork-based packaging group announced in June that it had completed bolt-on acquisitions in England and Spain that will add €20 million to its annual revenues, which will be in excess of €500 million this year. Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has defended the Government's plans for the upcoming budget , including the decision to not repeat the one-off cost-of-living payments provided last year. Vivienne Clarke has the details. The State should target five, or six 'crucial' projects, including Dublin's water supply, a multibillion upgrade of the electricity network and ring roads for Cork and Limerick, it has been urged. A debate on the future of the State's economy at the Patrick MacGill Summer School in Glenties Co Donegal heard that nearly €2 billion needs to be spent annually to provide water supplies for an extra 50,000 houses a year, skewed heavily towards high-density developments in places such as north Dublin. Mark Hennessey is in Donegal. If you'd like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money , the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.
Irish Times
18-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Digicel eyes €2bn refinancing as junk bond yields slide
Digicel , the Caribbean-based telecoms company founded by Denis O'Brien , has hired investment bankers at JP Morgan to help organise a potentially imminent refinancing of $2.3 billion (€2 billion), according to sources. Bloomberg reported in recent days that a refinancing deal could be launched within weeks. A spokeswoman for Digicel, which is based in Jamaica and operates in 25 markets, declined to comment. Fitch Ratings last month awarded Digicel's main financing entity a credit rating of B, the most favourable assessment it has made of the group's creditworthiness in six years, saying it was on track to refinance the borrowings more than a year in advance of their scheduled maturity in May 2027. That credit rating is still considered below investment grade. READ MORE The prospect of Digicel carrying out its first big refinancing since a debt restructuring closed in 2024 has been boosted by the US department of justice confirming to the group in April that it has ended an investigation that was looking into whether the business had breached foreign bribery laws. It has also been helped by interest rates on US high-yield, or junk, bonds falling considerably in recent months. The ICE BofA US High Yield Index for B-rated companies, a benchmark for low-rated companies, has fallen to a little over 7 per cent from 8.7 per cent in early April. While bond and equity markets had wobbled earlier this week as Donald Trump raised the prospect of firing Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, calm returned when the US president clarified he had no such plans. David McWilliams on how 'big incentives' to build could save Dublin city Listen | 36:51 Digicel said in November that it had made a voluntary disclosure to the department of information 'relating to possible violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act' (FCPA). The Digicel disclosure to US authorities is said to relate to activities in Haiti, which has again descended into chaos in recent years as criminal gangs have grown in power. Armed gangs control almost all of the country's capital, Port-au-Prince. The decision by US authorities to close the case was due to a combination of information gleaned during the investigation, as well as a move by Mr Trump in early February to pause FCPA enforcement actions. The debt restructuring that completed in January 2024 meant Mr O'Brien handed over a 90 per cent share in the business to a consortium of bondholders led by PGIM, Contrarian Capital Management, and GoldenTree Asset Management took control of Digicel in January 2024 as they swapped $1.7 billion of its borrowings for a 90 per cent holding. It marked the group's third debt restructuring in five years.
Mint
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Killer gangs are inches from ruling all of Haiti
The collapse of Haiti's government in April last year was a challenge but also an opportunity. An interim government called the Transitional Presidential Council was installed. A UN-brokered, Kenyan-led security mission arrived soon after. But a year later things are worse than ever. 'We are approaching a point of no return,' María Isabel Salvador, the UN's top official in Haiti, told its Security Council at a meeting on April 21st. Tasked with preparing for elections that in theory will be held in November, the council is now mired in allegations of corruption. The security force of around 1,000 people (less than half the number originally planned) has not been able to stem the chaos. Its funding runs out in September. The council is a 'transitional authority that controls nothing', says Claude Joseph, a former prime minister. 'It's an unsustainable catastrophe. We could lose Port-au-Prince at any time.' Port-au-Prince, the capital, now sees daily gun battles in which police and civilian vigilantes face off against a gang coalition called Viv Ansanm ('Living Together'). It has seized control of much of the city. The international airport has been all but shut down; the only way in or out is by helicopter, or by a barge that skirts the coast to bypass gang territory to the south. On May 2nd the United States designated Viv Ansanm and a sister organisation as terrorist groups, opening the door to tougher criminal penalties for those who provide them with money and weapons. The collapse of public life is accelerating. Most schools are shut. Cholera is spreading. The Marriott, one of the last functioning hotels, has closed its doors. Gangs have surrounded the offices of Digicel, Haiti's main cellular network, through which most people connect to the internet. 'If Digicel goes down, the country goes dark,' warns a security expert. The gangs don't need it. Increasingly sophisticated, they use Elon Musk's Starlink satellite system to communicate, organising themselves to the extent that they have been able to keep control over access to Haiti's ports. They also extort lorry drivers and bus operators moving along many of the country's main roads. The UN reports that in February and March more than 1,000 people were killed and 60,000 displaced, adding to the 1m, nearly 10% of the population, who have fled their homes in the past two years. Circulating videos show gang members playing football with severed heads, bragging: 'We got the dogs.' Central Haiti, once relatively peaceful, is fragmenting into fiefs. Mirebalais, a city which lies between Port-au-Prince and the border with the Dominican Republic, is now controlled by gangs. 'The country has become a criminal enterprise. It's the wild, wild West,' says a foreign official. Patience is running thin at the UN Security Council. The United States has already committed $600m to the security mission, but is unlikely to offer more. 'America cannot continue shouldering such a significant financial burden,' said Dorothy Shea, the US ambassador to the UN. Few other countries want to donate. The Transitional Presidential Council is so desperate that it is exploring deals with private military contractors. It has been talking to Osprey Global Solutions, a firm based in North Carolina, according to multiple sources. A spokesperson for Osprey says it 'has not had any contact or discussions' with the council or any other government body. The founder of Blackwater, Erik Prince, visited Haiti in April to negotiate contracts to provide attack drones and training for an anti-gang task force. The council declined to comment. The Haitian police are overwhelmed; an estimated 12,000 officers police a population that approaches 12m, barely half the UN-recommended ratio. Weak leadership, poor co-ordination with the Kenyan-led force, and calls for the ousting of the police chief point to deep institutional rot. In Canapé-Vert, one of Port-au-Prince's last gang-free pockets, a former policeman known as 'Commander Samuel' leads a vigilante group called Du Sang 9 ('New Blood' in Creole). Gangs have thinned its numbers. It is all that stands between them and the prime minister's office. Clarification (June 3rd 2025): Paragraph eight of this article has been amended to make clear that the council exploring deals is the Transitional Presidential Council. Update (June 5th 2025): Before this story was published The Economist contacted Osprey Global Solutions to seek comment. On June 4th a spokesperson for the firm said: 'Osprey has not had any contact or discussions with the 'Transitional Presidential Council,' the current Haitian government or other governmental or multilateral institution regarding operations in Haiti.' This story has been updated accordingly.
Irish Times
13-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Digicel's €2bn refinancing
More than two years after bondholders moved to take over Digicel, the Caribbean-based telecoms company founded by Denis O'Brien is on track to refinance $2.3 billion (€2 billion) off borrowings by May 2026, a year ahead of schedule, according to Fitch Ratings. In a notable move, Fitch has awarded the business the highest credit rating in six years following a series of debt restructurings. Joe Brennan reports. In the week the Government brought in sweeping changes to the rental market in an effort to alleviate the housing crisis, John FitzGerald runs his rule over the plan and highlights the need for private investment in the rental market. In Agenda, Martin Wall delves into the debate around increasing pay for top executives at Irish commercial semi-State companies, and why there is a move to hike their pay. In the interview, Ian Curran meets Aine Kennedy, the founder of Smooth to discuss how she has brought her company from social media sensation to the shelves of some of the top department stores in Europe. READ MORE Why do we as a society continue to deal with a system that does little to cater to households with both parents working? Margaret E Ward looks at what could be changed. Irish businesses are much less optimistic about the future than they were in late 2024, according to Azets Ireland, suggesting a 'silent slowdown' in the economy may be under way. Ian Curran reports. The Department of Social Protection has been fined €550,000 after data protection watchdogs found 'a number of deficiencies ' in its compliance with European data privacy rules concerning the use of facial scans in issuing Public Services Cards. Ciara O'Brien has the details. Ciara also reports, along with Barry O'Halloran, that disruptive passengers who are removed from Ryanair flights will now be slapped with a €500 fine by the airline. Ryanair has introduced the charge in an attempt to deter unruly behaviour on board flights, an issue it said affects the entire industry. Staying with Ryanair, group chief executive Michael O'Leary's total pay topped €3.8 million last year. Gordon Deegan has read the firm's annual report showing the data. Joint provisional liquidators have been appointed by the High Court to Dublin company Frank&Bear Limited, amid alleged misappropriation of funds. Ray Managh reports. In Smart Money, Cliff Taylor looks at how a Government move to pull the plug on a housing development could have big implications for its plans to deliver thousands of social homes through public-private partnership. Big US multinationals will be slow to heed president Donald Trump's demands to bring operations back to the country because of 'the chaos' currently existing in Washington, the head of Ireland's biggest business group has said. Mark Hennessy was there.
