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Bharti Airtel eyes $10bn loan for Zain deal
25 February 2010
Standard Chartered, Barclays and a number of other banks are discussing loans to Bharti to buy Zain’s African business
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Zain
Bharti Airtel
Africa
Standard Chartered
Barclays
India
Bharti Airtel is seeking a medium-term loan of $9-$10 billion to finance its purchase of Zain’s African assets, announced last week. The company is in talks with a syndicate of up to nine banks to arrange the facility.
The banks include Bharti’s advisers, Standard Chartered and Barclays, as well as most of the other banks that were involved in the financing of Bharti’s failed merger in 2009 with South Africa’s MTN Group.
The consortium may extend a $7 billion, five-year, offshore loan to back the Zain deal. The remainder will come from the rupee market. The chairman of the State Bank of India said Bharti had shown an interest in obtaining funding from the bank.
Barclays Capital and Standard Chartered are believed to have committed to contribute about $5 billion each in financing, in case the company is unable to get the loan.
The Indian telco is aiming to conclude talks to buy the African assets of Zain by March 25. GTB