Published: March 4, 2014
Telco group upsizes US$600mn deal after eager appetite from 11 regional and global banks.
Kuwaiti telecoms group Zain has secured US$800mn through a syndicated loan from 11 banks.
The company had planned to tap the market for US$600mn for corporate expenditure, but increased the amount once it began building the book for the five-year loan.
Arrangers on the deal were Al Khalij Commercial Bank, Arab Bank, Arab Banking Corporation, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, National Bank of Kuwait, Natixis, Samba Financial Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Union National Bank.
Zain CEO Scott Gegenheimer recently told EMEA Finance that the group is looking for new investment opportunities in North Africa – the group owns a stake in Morocco’s Inwi, formerly known as Wana. “Given our Moroccan interests, we believe we could extract lots of synergies with the rest of the group from neighbouring countries in North Africa,” Gegenheimer said.