(Associated Press via NewsEdge) A bankrupt US Virgin Islands telecommunications company will sell its two French Caribbean cable television companies in an effort to repay creditors, an official said.
Innovative Communications, the largest telecom company in the territory of 110,000 people, plans to sell Martinique TV Cable and Guadeloupe-based World Satellite Group for $70 million, said Jeffrey Prosser, the companies' owner.
Prosser disclosed the deal during testimony before creditors in his bankruptcy case in federal court.
Prosser and two of his companies, Innovative Communications and Emerging Communications, filed for bankruptcy on July 31, after defaulting on loans to creditors, including Herndon, Virginia-based Rural Telephone Finance Cooperative, or RTFC.
The buyer of the French Caribbean cable companies was a privately held Martinique-based company, Prosser said, but declined to give its name. The deal will be final by February 25 and will close by March 25. The sale requires approval from French regulatory agencies and RTFC, Prosser said.
The two companies collectively serve nearly 50,000 customers in the French Caribbean islands, according to Innovative's Web site.
Prosser maintains he and his companies owe RTFC $402 million, but the lender said that number is too low but did not say by how much.
Innovative also plans to sell rural France-based Valvision, a cable TV company with 16,500 subscribers. Prosser said he expects to get about $25 million for the company.
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