Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest telecom operator by revenue, is looking to mop up $8.5 billion worth of offshore loan to fund the acquisition of Zain’s African mobile operations, as mentioned in some media reports.
The report further added that the telecom major has also issued a term sheet to lenders for the same. The offshore facility is likely to consist of four phases and it will be for a period six years.
The company has opted for offshore loans over onshore loans owing to the good response from overseas banks. The dollar loan is expected to reduce risks involved in execution process.
Bharti is in exclusive discussions with Zain for the acquisition of the latter’s African unit — Zain Africa BV — based on an enterprise value of $10.7 billion. This potential transaction does not include Zain’s operations in Morocco and Sudan. The exclusivity period will last till March 25.
It had reported 14.61% jump in its December 2009 quarter net profit which stood at Rs 2,312.10 crore as compared to Rs 2,017.29 crore for the year ago period.