LONDON (AFP) – British telecoms firm Cable & Wireless Communications, parent company of LIME, on Thursday agreed to buy Barbados-based peer Columbus International, operators of Flow Jamaica, for US$1.85 billion.{{more}}

CWC said in a statement that it will also assume US $1.17 billion of Columbus debt, taking the total value of the transaction to US $3.02 billion.

Privately-owned Columbus is a leading fibre-based telecommunications and technology services provider in the Caribbean, Central America and the Andean region.

London-listed CWC will pay $707.5 million in cash, with the rest in shares. It will fund the acquisition via a share placing totalling ten percent of the group.