Liquid Telecom has raised $840 million in a bond sale to refinance debt and expand further into Africa. According to Bloomberg, the sale was conducted by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Standard Chartered Plc, and Standard Bank Group Ltd. It is reported that the amount raised also includes a $100 million investment by the International Finance Corp.
Liquid Telecom has installed more than 70,000 kilometers (43,500 miles) of fiber across Africa. It operates five data centers in South Africa, Kenya, and Rwanda. Demand for higher-speed internet connections and data storage is increasing on the continent as hundreds of millions of people start connecting to the internet, mostly using their mobile phones.
The bond was listed on the Euronext Dublin exchange, according to the IFC. The proceeds will be used to pay existing debt and to increase access to broadband services.
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We told you, last October, that in the pipelines is a rebrand – as Liquid Telecom seeks to rename to Liquid Intelligent Technologies. This pictures the company beyond being just a wholesale and retail connectivity provider, but rather as a technology solutions company.
In three years’ time, Liquid should be able to be described as a “technology company providing access to the world’s leading technologies, from AI to cybersecurity, to some of the most advanced compute capabilities in the cloud”. To this effect, the company will have to do some acquisitions.
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