Cable & Wireless to acquire local ISP, Atlas
Cables & Wireless Seychelles announced today (22 December 2005) that it has reached agreement to purchase the whole of the share capital of Atlas (Seychelles) Limited ("Atlas"), a Seychellois company providing Internet services. The consideration of SR19 million is subject to an adjustment based on the final audited net assets of Atlas as at 31 December 2005. The transaction is expected to complete on 31 December 2005.
Cable & Wireless is a leading international telecommunications company with customers in some 80 countries. For more than 130 years, it has reinvented itself to embrace the latest technological advances and serve its customers' needs. Cable & Wireless provides voice, data, IP (Internet Protocol) and mobile services to business and residential customers, as well as to fixed and mobile telecommunications operators and content, application and Internet providers.
Atlas offers a range of services, including wireless broadband, dial-up access and leased lines, and is currently the leading provider of Internet services in the Seychelles. Atlas was established in 1996 and it launched its high-speed wireless service ("Skyway") in 2004. Cable & Wireless will seek to leverage its international experience and expertise, with its existing fixed line and mobile investments in the Seychelles, to work with the resources of Atlas to develop new Internet products and services, continuing to connect consumers to the people and information that matter most to them.
At a signing ceremony held on 21 December at Pardiwalla Twomey Lablache, the share purchase agreement ("SPA") was signed. The shareholders of Atlas were represented by Marc Houareau, Executive Chairman of Atlas, representing Victoria Computer Services (Proprietary) Limited and his own interest, and Arnold Chetty, Managing Director of Atlas, representing Chrysalis (Seychelles) Limited. Usman Saadat, Chief Executive Officer and Charles Hammond, Divisional Manager Finance represented Cable & Wireless.
Marc Houareau, Executive Chairman of Atlas, said, "We are proud of our achievement of being the first ISP in the Seychelles. Seeing the transition from a start-up ISP to the leading market player is a credit to the highly skilled staff that has worked as an effective team. Atlas has been instrumental in the growth of the Internet in the Seychelles and the way people communicate through this medium. The changing landscape in the telecoms industry now requires even more capability, access and scale. We feel that Cable & Wireless is the company with those abilities and one that we can entrust with helping Atlas to take care of our existing loyal customers and employees. Our customers should note that it is business as usual and customer services will be unaffected.
On completion, Marc Houareau (Executive Chairman), and Arnold Chetty (Managing Director) will resign as directors of Atlas but stay on as consultants for an interim period to assist Cable & Wireless and Atlas following the acquisition.
Commenting on the acquisition, Cable & Wireless Seychelles Chief Executive Officer, Usman Saadat, said: "The acquisition of Atlas is a further step towards offering customers in the Seychelles a full range of services backed by the expertise of Cable & Wireless. The transaction makes financial and strategic sense and accelerates the continuing transformation of the Cable & Wireless group in the Seychelles. It creates a stronger presence with scale required to achieve success in an increasingly competitive market. There is growing demand from our customers to deliver enhanced Internet solutions, and we believe the new synergy between Atlas and Cable & Wireless will enable us to deliver such Internet and data services. The acquisition of Atlas demonstrates our commitment to the Seychelles; we believe that this will increase the take-up of the Internet and further assist with the wider social development objectives of the country.
I would like to thank the management team at Atlas for their professionalism and support during the last few weeks to help us conclude the financial and legal due diligence. By linking together two market-leading communications businesses, we will create a broad platform focused on improving the way people communicate. Our team is excited to be involved in one of the first acquisitions of this nature in the Seychelles and we are committed to working hard towards exceeding the expectations of our new customers."