BILLIONAIRE, cable TV pioneer and telecommunications veteran Dr John Malone has bought a more-than-20 per cent share in Columbus International, the owners of Flow Jamaica.

The chairman of Liberty Global, the world’s second largest cable multiple system operator (MSO), bought shares from existing shareholders in addition to new shares to be issued by Columbus that will make him the single largest minority investor in the regional telecommunications company.

The net proceeds from the issue of new shares will help Columbus capitalise on near-term opportunities and provide additional flexibility to prudently manage its financial position, according to the company.

It will also be used to “accelerate the completion of its current capital plans, fund potential future acquisitions, enhance balance sheet liquidity and flexibility and for general corporate purposes”.

“We have budgeted close to US$200 million to further invest in 2013 with a huge focus on cloud-based services,” said Brendan Paddick, chairman and chief executive officer of Columbus. “Since its inception in 2005, Columbus has invested well over US$1.2 billion in capital expenditures… we remain committed to building the regions’ most robust terrestrial network.”

The transaction meant that some shareholders, who previously exercised their right to convert debt several years ago, would have cashed in all their shares in Columbus.

“So we really have replaced financial investors with strategic investors,” said Brendan Paddick.

And Malone, who was first approached in June by RBC Capital Markets, which acted as exclusive financial advisor to Columbus on the transaction, is viewed as a “high-calibre investor” who can “further strengthen the position of Columbus as the premier telecommunications company in the markets in which it operates”.

“Dr Malone’s reputation as a world-class telecommunications operator and investor is second to none,” said Paddick. “We look forward to working with Dr Malone and his team of advisors, leveraging their skills, industry experience, insights and business acumen as we continue to build upon the successes we’ve achieved to date at Columbus.”

Malone invested in Columbus in his personal capacity and is in no way connected to his other business interests in the Liberty Group of Companies, but he will have representation on the Columbus’s board of directors.

The long-time telecommunications executive, whose net worth was estimated at US$5.6 billion, placing him among the top 200 billionaires in the world by Forbes last September, is also chairman of Liberty Media Corporation (since 1990), and was the CEO of Tele-Communications, Inc (TCI) from 1973 to 1999, when it was sold to AT&T for approximately US$48 billion.

He also serves on the boards of CATO Institute, Discovery Communications, Expedia, and Sirius XM, and is the former chairman of DirecTV.

Columbus International is a privately held diversified telecommunications company based in Barbados, which provides digital cable television, broadband Internet, digital landline telephony in Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, and Curacao under the brand name, Flow and corporate data and cloud-based services under the brand Columbus Business Solutions.

Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Columbus Networks, the Company provides capacity and IP services, corporate data solutions and data centre hosting throughout 25 countries in the greater Caribbean, Central American and Andean region.