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Wind Canada to fund expansion through debt
18 January 2010
The company that runs the Wind brand in Canada is looking to raise several hundred million dollars in debt to fund expansion
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Wind
Canada
Sawiris
Orascom
Telus
Bell Canada
Rogers
Comment: The Canadian business in Naguid Sawiris’s first move across the Atlantic from the Mediterranean countries of Egypt, Algeria, Italy and Greece. Apart from finance, he has other challenges — primarily that North American regulators, in the US as well as Canada, don’t like foreign-owned telcos.
Globalive Communications, the company that operates the Wind brand in Canada, is looking to raise “several hundred” million dollars in debt to fund expansion. The company is planning to hire banks to manage the sale in the next few weeks.
The wireless carrier is considering bonds and syndicated loans, which may be used to repay debt and finance network expansion in western Canada and Ontario.
Globalive’s Wind Mobile service is backed by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, who also runs the Wind brand around the Mediterranean. The Canadian company has a $700 million loan from Sawiris’s company, Orascom Telecom.
Globalive may also launch an initial public offering in future, and plans to look for additional equity investors.
The company estimates that without any partners, it will spend $1.5 billion over 10 years, with $1.1-1.2 billion required in the first three or four years.
Currently, 95% of Canada’s wireless market is controlled by Telus, Bell Canada and Rogers Communications. GTB