Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP, the New Zealand owner and developer of Hawaiki submarine cable system, has appointed French bank Natixis as Exclusive Equity Advisor for the project.
Hawaiki submarine cable system is a new trans-Pacific cable, based on coherent fibre technology and with designed capacity of over 25 Tbps, which is planned to link Australia and New Zealand to the United States, also connecting to a number of South Pacific Islands and Hawaii, by the end of 2017.
The project represents one of the world’s first privately-owned subsea cables that uses project finance methods to finance construction with completion of the financing set to allow project implementation to begin in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Natixis is a leading global player in the telecom infrastructure sector, combining financial advising expertise and debt structuring capabilities.
Natixis will assist Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP in achieving the final target of the equity raising required to fund the project from institutional and infrastructure investors.
Rémi Galasso, Chief Executive Officer of Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP, says Hawaiki is progressing according to plan and has already started the permitting process in view of the forthcoming completion of the financing.
“We have our carrier licence in Australia and the network operator status in New Zealand,” he says.
“Next step is to engage with the US authorities for our landings in Hawaii and Oregon.
“We are grateful to our customers for their continuous support. Now is the time to involve a leading infrastructure finance bank to help us crossing the finish line.
“Natixis has the resources, the expertise and the track-record we were looking for. We very much appreciate their assistance in helping us to achieve the last key milestone in the development of our submarine cable project.”
Echoing Galasso’s comments, Jean-Pierre Geremy, Global Head of Telecom, Structured & Asset Finance, Natixis, adds that the company is “delighted to work” with Hawaiki on its submarine cable system, which will link and strengthen communications between the South Pacific and North America.
“Natixis has international expertise and significant experience in project financing and telecom infrastructure, and we are excited to contribute to this project in our role as Exclusive Equity Advisor,” he adds.
Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP, headquartered in Auckland, is a New Zealand registered bandwidth supplier in the Pacific submarine cable market, and the owner and developer of the Hawaiki submarine cable system.
The Hawaiki cable is a repeatered submarine cable system with a design capacity of 25 Tbps linking Whangarei, Sydney, Oahu and Oregon, on the US West coast.
