New chairman tapped to replace O’Brien at Digicel
Published:Friday | December 1, 2023 | 12:10 AM
The private equity firms seeking to acquire Digicel Group have appointed technology guru Rajeev Suri as the telecoms chairman-designate to replace founder Denis O’Brien.
However, the restructuring and takeover of the debt-ridden company is still a work in progress.
“The restructuring services agreement is still to be implemented, so there’s no info to share with regard to your questions below at this point,” said Digicel Group head of communication Antonia Graham.
O’Brien will continue to serve on the board of Digicel and remain a shareholder in the company.
“I am delighted to welcome Rajeev as chairman-designate,” he said in a press release this week. “He is the ideal leader to deliver on Digicel’s next phase of growth.”
O’Brien will relinquish majority control to a consortium led by PGIM, Contrarian Capital Management, and GoldenTree Asset Management. They are among the largest holders of Digicel bonds who negotiated an agreement with the Irish billionaire O’Brien to swap the debt for equity.
It’s still unknown the size of the stake O’Brien will be left with in the company he founded in Jamaica in 2001, before growing its global footprint to more than 30 markets.
PGIM is led by principal Gregory Cass, GoldenTree by partner Pat Dyson, and Contrarian Capital Management by Managing Director Xiao Song.
“I look forward to getting on the road to meet our customers and employees, and continuing to strengthen the company’s board and leadership team to take the company forward in this next chapter,” Suri said in the statement.
He has worked in the telecoms industry for around 35 years, most recently as CEO of Inmarsat, from March 2021 until its acquisition by Viasat in May 2023. He joined Inmarsat from Nokia, where he was president and CEO from 2014 to 2020, having served as CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks since 2009. And he was also a commissioner of the United Nations Broadband Commission and served as chair of the Global Satellite Operators Association.
The debt-restructuring deal is expected to be concluded by year end, according to Fitch rating agency.
The debt-conversion transaction ams to reduce Digicel’s borrowings to US$3 billion from US$4.7 billion, and is projected to cut its leverage from 8.5 times core earnings to 5.4 times, based on projections that the group will earn a US$550-million profit before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation in 2024.