| Digicel factbox Chief executive: Colm Delves |
You are a single-B rated company based in Jamaica. Your business is mobile telephony, an industry more vulnerable to swings in investor sentiment than most. The capital markets have been effectively shut for well over a month and are only just showing signs of life. You’re the chief financial officer and you need to raise money to fund your aggressive regional expansion. But do you take the risk and issue at a time when it seems that only the blue-chip names can borrow? Or do you sit on the sidelines and wait?
For Lawrence Hickey, the CFO at Digicel, the decision was straightforward. In July, the company reopened its 2012 bond for $150 million and in the process became the first true high-yield corporate in the Latin America and Caribbean region to issue since the big market wobble began in May.