African telecommunications company Airtel Africa announced on Wednesday April 21 that it had signed a new USD 500 million loan facility with a group of partner banks. These are Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Citibank, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, and two Indian relationship banks (Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank).
“The new committed facility is a combination of a revolving credit facility and term loans with a maximum term of 4 years. The facility will be used to partially refinance the Group’s 750 million euro denominated bond (approximately $ 880 million) due May 20, 2021, “said Airtel Africa Group Secretary General Simon O’Hara. He added that “the balance of the euro-denominated bond will be repaid with the group’s existing cash flow in order to reduce gross debt and associated interest charges. The new credit facility further strengthens the group’s core liquidity ”.
As a reminder, the subsidiary of the Indian company Bharti Airtel is looking for capital to finance its debt. With this in mind, the operator opened in March 2021 the capital of Airtel Money to The Rise Fund. It also sold its telecom towers in Madagascar and Malawi to the telecom tower manager.
