Cable & Wireless now owned by Seychellois entrepreneurs |07 November 2019
The new owners and other board members of CWS during the press conference yesterday (Photo: Louis Toussaint)
Cable & Wireless Seychelles, the oldest telecom company in the country, is now 100% owned by a group of well-known Seychellois entrepreneurs.
The announcement was made yesterday following months of planning and negotiations which have resulted in the new shareholding group purchasing Cable & Wireless Seychelles from Liberty Latin America in a transaction costing in excess of US $130 million, including the consideration price and acquisition costs.
The new owners, under CWS Investment Ltd, include the JFA Group, Jamshed Pardiwalla, Ravji Raghwani and Andy Bainbridge, as well as Victoria-based professional services firm ACM, which represented the shareholders in the deal.
Francis Chang-Leng, local entrepreneur and CWS board member, played an active role in leading negotiations to secure the transactions.
Yesterday afternoon the new owners and other board members of the CWS presented themselves to the local press and clarified different issues surrounding the acquisition.
CWS employees were informed of the acquisition as soon as it was formally announced and another meeting was held with them yesterday morning. According to ACM senior partner Oliver Bastienne, the deal was an unprecedented opportunity to bring one of Seychelles’ biggest companies into local hands.
He said the group of shareholders was chosen based on their interest to invest in the company and their passion to see the company grow.
Mr Bastienne added that the group of very experienced individuals operating in different sectors would no doubt bring their experience in the strategic investment and support of the CWS.
“For a group of Seychellois to piece together an acquisition of this scale from a global multi-national company is a tremendous achievement,” Mr Bastienne said. “We expect this to have a positive impact for all involved, from CWS staff, to the customers, and the country as a whole.”
But he stressed that the new owners will start discussions to have a wider participation in terms of the CWS ownership and this will include employee participation.
Mr Gregory Albert, local entrepreneur and board member, added that there is more than 40% of unallocated shares and they will work on the best mechanism to reach out and include all individuals who want to be part of the company.
Meanwhile Mr Bastienne has affirmed that there is no re-structuring planned as there is no change in the business company, that day-to-day operations of the company would not be affected and no employee would be made redundant therefore no length of service or compensation payments will be made to employees and the meeting yesterday was important to reassure them.
With regard to a redundancy case involving CWS employees still pending with the Employment Tribunal, Mr Bastienne said with the change of ownership they will respect the course of justice but wants the case to be settled in an equitable and fair manner.
He commended the fact that now that the company is locally owned, the focus will be on long-term investment for growth and also important is the fact that revenues will stay here rather than being transferred overseas.
In relation to any debts owed to the government by the former owner of the company, Mr Bastienne has confirmed that as part of the transaction deal, the new owners will settle all outstanding bills with the government.
The acquisition was financed by a consortium of banks led by Trade Development Bank (TDB), with the participation of Barclays and ABC Banking Corporation of Mauritius. Nouvobanq has also been instrumental in facilitating the purchase, Mr Bastienne said.
“CWS is a successful company and the new owners have placed an emphasis on business continuity and growth,” Mr Bastienne said. “The CWS team will stay on with the new shareholders’ backing to further strengthen the company’s commercial position.”
In the coming months, the new board will be studying opportunities for long-term growth and development from the perspective of a Seychellois-owned company, benefitting customers, staff and Seychelles at large.
“The new shareholders want to invest for long-term growth and this will directly benefit the Seychelles economy in a number of ways,” Mr Bastienne said.
CWS chief executive Charles Hammond, who will continue in his role under the new ownership, has expressed confidence that CWS has the potential to become a more agile and responsive company.
“There will be a number of new opportunities under the direction of local ownership that understands the market well,” Mr Hammond said. “I am looking forward to continue driving the business forward in a new chapter that I believe our employees and customers will embrace.”
Mr Hammond, a naturalised Seychellois, said the acquisition by local investors is the best think that could happen to this business.
‘’We are thrilled and we only see great opportunities going forward.
Being the first telecom company with 126 years delivering services to the people of Seychelles, CWS has always been owned by foreigners but now we have a wonderful opportunity to deliver to the people we understand in a way that they understand the services we provide,” Mr Hammond explained.
He pointed out that the company is a very successful and profitable one and they aim to keep it as the number one in Seychelles and equally profitable going forward.
He noted that the intention of the new shareholders and management of the CWS is to invest more in services so as “to progressively improve service quality delivered to customers”.
By Marie-Anne Lepathy