Documents for flotations and bond offerings in the US are great things. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) - a distinctly humourless outfit - is very insistent that investors get all the info. How well investors are protected in the US is shown by the sort of health warnings that Esat Telecom had to include in the prospectus for this week's $35 million (£24 million) bond issue.
Because Esat will need more money after 1997 and because there is no absolute guarantee that it will get that money, the prospectus had to include a note from KPMG that "these issues raise substantial doubt about the ability of the company to continue as a going concern".
However, it must be realised that this is a standard health warning in any US offering involving start-up or near start-up companies.
The Esat document also provides lots of interesting nuggets about the company and the man indelibly associated with it - Denis O'Brien. It emerges that Esat and parent company, Communicorp are tenants of the Esat chairman, who actually owns the 9,300 sq ft head office building on Grand Canal Quay. Denis O'Brien picks up monthly rental of £15,750 - equivalent to a not insignificant £20 a square foot.
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