A report in the city’s Sunday Independent newspaper - which is mainly owned by O’Brien - said that the initial public offering, expected to raise $2.3 billion in New York, will begin within days.
The company plans to use some of the funds to boost its business solutions market, said the newspaper, which added that it had seen reports saying that “the addressable opportunity in its markets for business solutions could total revenues of up to $3 billion”.
Digicel's main business is in the Caribbean, from administrative headquarters in Jamaica, but it also has networks in the Pacific.
The Digicel IPO is expected to be the second biggest in the US of the year and the company hopes to use $1.3 billion of the proceeds to pay off debt. It aims to reduce its annual interest payments from $143.5 million to $82 million.
The company will sell 42.5% of the shares, but the Sunday Independent said: “It is not expected that Mr O’Brien will take anything out of the IPO.”
