Last summer, the stars looked to be aligning for Denis O’Brien in his long battle to keep control of Digicel. It was always likely that Digicel would need to divest some of its businesses in order to reduce leverage. And the Pacific business, centred on Papua New Guinea, was a prime candidate.  Happily for Digicel and O’Brien, there was more than one bidder for the Pacific business. In May of 2020 China Mobile expressed an interest. It was then reportedly valued at $900 million. Australia, alarmed at the prospect of a Chinese telecoms company on its doorstep, helped finance a…

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