Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP, the New Zealand owner and developer of Hawaiki submarine cable system, has appointed French bank Natixis as Exclusive Equity Advisor for the project.

Hawaiki submarine cable system is a new trans-Pacific cable, based on coherent fiber technology and with designed capacity of over 25 Tbps, which is planned to link Australia and New Zealand to the United States, also connecting to a number of South Pacific Islands and Hawaii, by the end of 2017.

The completion of the financing will allow project implementation to begin in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Rémi Galasso, Chief Executive Officer of Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP, said Hawaiki is progressing according to plan and has already started the permitting process in view of the forthcoming completion of the financing. “We have our carrier licence in Australia and the network operator status in New Zealand. Next step is to engage with the US authorities for our landings in Hawaii and Oregon.”

Galasso added, “We are grateful to our customers for their continuous support. Now is the time to involve a leading infrastructure finance bank to help us crossing the finish line. Natixis has the resources, the expertise and the track-record we were looking for. We very much appreciate their assistance in helping us to achieve the last key milestone in the development of our submarine cable project.”

Jean-Pierre Geremy, Global Head of Telecom, Structured & Asset Finance at Natixis, said, “We are delighted to work with Hawaiki on its submarine cable system, which will link and strengthen communications between the South Pacific and North America. Natixis has international expertise and significant experience in project financing and telecom infrastructure, and we are excited to contribute to this project in our role as Exclusive Equity Advisor.”