Vodafone Fiji and the Fiji National Provident Fund are both ultimately expected to benefit when Amalgamated Telecom Holdings acquires Amper SA’s interests in the South Pacific.

With an investment projected at $160 million, ATH understands the big risk involved, however, is confident in the management team it has planned for the business.

Amper is a Spain-based company primarily engaged in the telecommunications sector.

It has various telecoms interests in the Pacific, including AST Telecom (American Samoa) and BlueSky Samoa (Samoa) – which jointly control a 60% stake in BlueSky Cook Islands (formerly Telecom Cook Islands).

ATH chairman, Ajith Kodagoda, has confirmed once acquired, Vodafone Fiji will end up managing all of these.

He further indicated that FNPF will make money out of this by lending to the business.

“Therefore, Vodafone will make money by managing it and FNPF by lending to it. So from group point of view, it all makes sense,” he said.

ATH has a market capitalisation of $460 million and Mr Kodagoda said the new investment was almost 30 per cent of what they are worth.

“There is an element of risk because it is unknown territory but then I think we have got a good management team now,” he said.

On Tuesday ATH announced that Amper SA has accepted its Binding Offer for the sale of all of Amper’s interests in the South Pacific.

Mr Kodagoda then confirmed they envisage the investment to be funded from a mix of debt and equity.

“This investment presents ATH a tremendous opportunity to play a key role in improving regional connectivity and delivering modern innovative services,” he said.

“Moreover, ATH believes that extending operations on a regional basis will further unlock economies of scale and scope,” he said.

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