Cable & Wireless Communications, a London-listed communications provider operating throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, has agreed to acquire private equity-backed Columbus International, a Barbados-based diversified telecommunications company, for US$1.85 billion. The acquisition will facilitate an exit for Portland Private Equity, a Caribbean-focused private equity firm that originally invested US$65.5 million in Columbus International in December 2006 through its AIC Caribbean Fund. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.