‘I Woke Up This Morning Very Happy’

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Snap!

Denis O’Brien appeared on CNBC earlier this afternoon to discuss the cancellation of the public share offering by his telecom company Digicel.

It’s all good.

Denis O’Brien: “Our board made the right decision last night. We were very, very happy with the decision, woke up this morning, we’re very happy that we pulled the IPO. And we’ll come back to the market in time when the market conditions are right for our business.”

CNBC: “Denis, before we go on and discuss the market conditions, to try and keep everybody on board, in simple terms what do you do? What does your business do?”

O’Brien: “We’ve a mobile phone and fixe lined business and cable TV and also a digital business in the Caribbean and also Central America and the Pacific islands as well. We operate in 31 countries. We’ve about $2.8billion of revenue and we make approximately $1.2billion of EBITDA.”

CNBC: “So, just talk me through the process. That A) an IPO, the board says let’s IPO, you employ bankers and presumably you start a roadshow…”

O’Brien: “Yeah.”

CNBC: “…and then you. Just give us some colour, if you would, on what went on during that process.”

O’Brien: “Well we started the process six months ago, led by our chief executive Colm Delves, we’d a small team, then the team widened. And you know we hit the road about two and a half weeks. It was quite volatile, particularly in the emerging markets and, of course, the discount people are looking for in IPO are very, is very high, it’s widened. And, you know, we’re not backed by private equity. It’s all owned by myself and my colleagues. So we didn’t need to do an IPO at any time so. It was opportunistic from our point of view and we’ll come back, we don’t need any funding at the moment. It’s a great feeling, not to need any funding.

CNBC: “Since you are a private company, can you give us an idea of the magnitude of the figures. What you were after? What they told you, you’d probably price at?”

O’Brien: “Yeah well there are comparables. Obviously we’re comped against a basket of other companies but they decline by half a turn of EBIDTA during the roadshow, so we didn’t hit our price target, so we decided well, if we don’t hit our price target, we’re not going to sell our shares. Why would you sell your front garden if when you know it’s worth a lot of money? And why would you sell it at a discount?”

CNBC 2: “I also understand you’ve been watching emerging markets, is that one of the reasons you’re concerned about this current environment?”

O’Brien: “Well you know emerging markets is a bit choppy at the moment. A lot of outflow from fund managers, a lot of caution, a little bit of jittery, you know, although this morning it’s a bit better but, over the last few weeks, you know, we’ve seen a lot of outflows and people are just a little bit concerned about the future. You know, in our circumstances, when you don’t have to do an IPO, and you’re not hitting your price target, you just defer or move it out a year.”

CNBC: “So that’s what I was going to ask you: when do you think the time will be right? What did the bankers say to you about when next the markets won’t be volatile and, presumably, will be in a rising environment?”

O’Brien: “Well, I mean it’s very difficult to get bankers to tell you, you know, what the future holds cause nobody really knows. But I think the markets will settle over the next three to six months with oil recovering. So, you know, I actually think that the market will be fine then and there won’t be as big a discount and, you know, people will be hitting their IPO ranges.”

CNBC 3: “You are losing money. I mean you have adequate access to capital, for what you need from other capital markets, including the debt markets?”

O’Brien: “Well you know, we operate in free cash-flow of $840million on $1.2billion of EBITDA so, you know, we’ve no maturities until 2021 of any consequence. So we’ve funded our balance sheet of very cheap prices in the bond market in the last 12 months so we’re very comfortable, we’re generating a huge amount of cash. We can do our MNA strategy and really develop our business so, you know, alone, we’ve spent $1.5billion on CAPEX, building fiber to the home, fibre business networks across all our markets.”

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61 thoughts on “‘I Woke Up This Morning Very Happy’

    1. Nojotti

      Well why don’t you p1ss off like you threatened to a few posts back? Do you have Stockholm syndrome or something?

    2. rotide

      it’s not just DOBwatch. there’s a whole multitude of subjects from which to farm those all important page impressions

        1. mauriac

          well Newstalk,Independent newspapers ,today fm, and a myriad of local newspapers and radio stations aren’t going to emphasise the corruption at the heart of this government

          1. mauriac

            fine Gael enabled a supporter to amass great wealth in a dodgy fashion to say the least.supporter uses ill gotten gains to buy media monopoly and receives further deals from the same party thus perpetuating a cycle of corruption familiar to banana republics the world over.Its not rocket science .

    1. Charlie

      Fluffygirl. Sorry but you gotta be one of the most irritating and unfunniest individuals on the internet. Don’t you have a job or life to go to?

  1. rotide

    in fairness to him, he answered pretty much exactly why they cancelled the IPO in very reasonable terms.

    semms like a sound business decision. He’s quite good at making those you know.

  2. Lordblessusandsaveus

    He likes talking about EBIDTA.

    He sounds like a salesman. He needs cash and needs it fast (for himself).

    1. rotide

      Broadsheet is not immune from the internet sickness of having to be 100% right about everything .

      This is going beyond schadenfreaud at this point though.

      (we all suffer from that at some point or another)

  3. Anne

    Let’s see..

    “And you know we hit the road about two and a half weeks”
    “And, you know, we’re not backed by private equity.”
    ” Why would you sell your front garden if when you know it’s worth a lot of money” you know.
    “Well you know emerging markets is a bit choppy at the moment.”
    “A lot of outflow from fund managers, a lot of caution, a little bit of jittery, you know
    ” although this morning it’s a bit better but, over the last few weeks, you know
    You know , in our circumstances, when you don’t have to do an IPO, and you’re not hitting your price target, you just defer or move it out a year.”
    “Well, I mean it’s very difficult to get bankers to tell you, you know, ” you know
    “So, you know , I actually think that the market will be fine then and there won’t be as big a discount and, you know ,”

    There’s more..

    “Well you know, we operate in free cash-flow of $840million on $1.2billion of EBITDA so, you know..

    That pleb can’t even talk, you know

  4. ProvingGround

    Anyone know what the opposite to ‘Cui bono’ is?

    As the IPO is no longer a source of liquid revenue, then revenue needs to be obtained from a different source.

    Anyone know another source of relatively easy revenue for himself…?

    1. Andy

      He wasn’t selling any of his shares in the IPO.
      DGL was issuing new shares with the proceeds going to the company, not to redacted.

  5. New Person A

    I’d say Denis woke up this morning a lot happier than the mainly petty losers or miserable little gulps perusing this

    1. Sham Bob

      He’s the 2nd happiest person in the country. Although the happiest people, the Westons, have to share their happiness between them.

  6. Faultline

    I think the wall st phrase is that he got his arse handed to him. Too much debt, too many people using the internet to make calls and not enough ‘dumb’ money entering the markets. Scarlet for him

    1. Christopher

      Pretty much sums it up really- the market was going to buy the pup he is selling.

      I hope he loses his shirt on Digicel.

    1. B Hewson

      I thought he was like Dara O’Brian with a trump haircut. Same lisp…no top teeth. They look a like.
      O’Brian changing his surname and moving to the UK makes sense now….

  7. www.cotton

    The change in his facial expression around 3mins 05 secs when it’s pointed out he is losing money is priceless

    1. Toe Up

      Well spotted, shame the camera cut from him just after that, but it was still enough to make it noticeable.

    2. Lilly

      The rictus smile he pasted on a few sentences in is fairly priceless as well. The guy is such a fraud.

  8. ahjayzis

    I think my post got moderated out of existence? I’m fairly sure the Moriarty Report backed it up :o/

    Fine use of money that report.

    1. sǝɯǝɯ ʇɐ pɐq

      He does, doesn’t he?
      He looks like a -cuddly and- cute businessman to me.

      Not as cute as he thinks he is though, apparently.

  9. Truth in the News

    In reality if it was worth anything would it not have been offered, a bird in the
    hand is better than two in the bush, it well past time that the Moriarty findings
    were made more widely circulated in the United States and to those dealing on
    the New York stock Market in particular…..is not time that our diplomatic reps
    in the US made an effort to publish the Tribunal Findings stateside…..mmmm.

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