Copying and distributing are prohibited without permission of the publisher
Vodafone Hutchison gets $2.58bn loan
17 June 2010
Australia’s merged Vodafone and 3 mobile operation has raised $2.58bn to repay loans from the two main shareholders
Read more:
Vodafone
Hutchison
3
Australia
VHA
Vodafone Hutchison Australia has secured a new $2.58 billion loan from 12 banks. The three year financing will replace loans from the company’s shareholders.
The group, which operates Vodafone and 3 mobile brands in Australia, will use $1.075 billion of the financing to repay loans to Vodafone Group and Hutchison Whampoa. The remaining $430 million will be paid to Vodafone as part of the equalisation facility agreed to at the time of the merger.
“This external financing gives VHA a new capital structure and facilitates our ability to pursue further growth options in the Australian market,” Nigel Dews, CEO of VHA, said in a statement.
The banks which participated in the financing were ANZ, BNP Paribas, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, Westpac, Banco Santander, Bank of Scotland International, BBVA, HSBC, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking.
Vodafone and Hutchison, which merged their Australian operations in June 2009, have nearly $4 billion in annual sales and seven million customers. The merged company is the third largest competitor in Australia’s $13 billion-a-year mobile phone sector. GTB