With a wealth of financial experience both in telecoms and on Wall Street, Sunit Patel, CFO and EVP at Level 3 Communications, tells Kavit Majithia where he sees the company’s next big profit wave coming from.
Where others tried and failed, it was Sunit Patel and his team that secured the biggest consolidation story in telecoms during 2011. Level 3’s purchase of network operator Global Crossing, finalised in October in an all stock deal worth approximately $1.9 billion, was beyond question a major coup for the carrier and one that gives it, among other things, a major presence in the important developing markets of Latin America.
For Patel, access to a profitable longhaul and metro network and data centre facilities in an emerging region were just two of the factors to consider when taking Level 3 towards its biggest acquisition to date. In a volatile global market, Level 3 is taking on a substantial amount of debt with Global Crossing, which effectively means Patel, in his roles as CFO and EVP, has put his own neck on the line.
“One of the key focuses...