BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS–(Marketwire – Jan 22, 2013) – Columbus International Inc. (“Columbus” or the “Company”), a diversified telecommunications provider in the Caribbean, Central America and Andean region, is pleased to announce the recent addition of Dr. John C. Malone as a new equity shareholder in the Company. Dr. Malone’s investment was facilitated through the acquisition of secondary shares from existing shareholders in addition to the purchase of primary shares that will be issued from the Company’s treasury. As a result of this transaction, Dr. Malone will become the largest single minority investor in Columbus. Dr. Malone will also have representation on the Company’s Board of Directors. The investment in Columbus was made in Dr. Malone’s personal capacity and is in no way connected to his other business interests in the Liberty Group of Companies.
The addition of Dr. Malone will further strengthen the position of Columbus as the premier telecommunications company in the markets in which it operates. “Having a high-caliber investor in Dr. Malone join the Columbus family is an achievement for which we are both extremely proud and excited,” said Brendan Paddick, chairman and chief executive officer of Columbus. “Dr. Malone’s reputation as a world class telecommunications operator and investor is second to none. We look forward to working with Dr. Malone and his team of advisors, leveraging their skills, industry experience, insights and business acumen as we continue to build upon the successes we’ve achieved to date at Columbus.”
The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the issuance of primary shares to accelerate the completion of its current capital plans, fund potential future acquisitions, enhance balance sheet liquidity and flexibility and for general corporate purposes. The net proceeds of this transaction will help the Company capitalize on near-term opportunities and provide additional flexibility to prudently manage its financial position.
RBC Capital Markets acted as exclusive financial advisor to Columbus on the transaction.
For further information please contact Brendan Paddick, brendan@columbus.co; Maxwell Parsons, max@columbus.co; or Richard Hugh, rhugh@columbus.co.
ABOUT DR. JOHN C. MALONE
Dr. John C. Malone is Chairman of Liberty Media Corporation, a position he has held since 1990 as well as Chairman of Liberty Interactive Corporation since 2011. Dr. Malone is also the Chairman of the Board of Liberty Global, Inc., the world’s second largest cable MSO, a position he has held since June 2005. Dr. Malone served as President and CEO of Tele-Communications, Inc., (“TCI”), between 1973 and 1996 and as Chairman and CEO between 1996 and March 1999 when TCI, the world’s largest cable MSO at the time, was sold to AT&T Corp. for approximately $48 billion. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for CATO Institute, Discovery Communications, Inc., Expedia and Sirius XM and is the former Chairman of DirecTV. Additionally, Dr. Malone is Chairman Emeritus of the Board for Cable Television Laboratories, Inc., as well as Director or similar capacity for various family businesses, Trusts or Foundations.
ABOUT COLUMBUS
Columbus International Inc. is a privately held diversified telecommunications company based in Barbados. The Company provides digital cable television, broadband Internet, digital landline telephony in Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, and Curacao under the brand name, FLOW and corporate data and cloud based services under the brand Columbus Business Solutions. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Columbus Networks, the Company provides capacity and IP services, corporate data solutions and data center hosting throughout 25 countries in the greater Caribbean, Central American and Andean region. Through its fully protected, ringed submarine fiber optic network spanning close to 18,000 km and its 24,000 km terrestrial fibre and coaxial terrestrial network, Columbus’ 2,100 plus professionals provide advanced telecom services to a diverse residential and corporate client base of close to 500,000 customers. Visit www.columbus.co
