Cable & Wireless Optus launched a Eur400m medium term note issue to institutional investors in the Europe on Thursday 23 March 2000.

The notes, denominated in Euro, carry a coupon of six per cent and were priced at 95bp over the January 2007 Bund. The company has swapped the proceeds of the notes back to Australian dollars.

The issue follows a successful roadshow throughout Europe. Investor response was extremely strong, with investors from Italy, UK, Spain, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany participating in the issue.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Norman Gillespie, said the debt issue is an important strategic step for the company, and represents another stage in the development of Cable & Wireless Optus. He said this issue continued the strategy of diversifying the company's fund sources and provided greater balance to the debt maturity profile.

Commenting on the quality of the investors, Mr Gillespie said, "We are delighted that we have been able to attract such a high quality investor base. This was the key element of our strategy for this debut Euro MTN issue and it establishes a superb platform for all future issues. CWO has now successfully issued in the United States, Australian and now European capital markets. This has transformed our liability structure. We now have a more suitable mix of capital market sourced term debt."

The notes are rated A- and Baa1 by Standard and Poor's and Moody's Investors Services respectively.

For more information:
Stephen Woodhill
Tel: (02) 9342 7850