A meeting of lending banks is taking place today in Prague to finalise a €2.29bn (US$3.09bn) loan to Czech investment group PPF, TelecomFinance has learnt.
The loan will be used to finance the acquisition of a majority stake in Telefonica Czech…
A meeting of lending banks is taking place today in Prague to finalise a €2.29bn (US$3.09bn) loan to Czech investment group PPF, TelecomFinance has learnt.
The loan will be used to finance the acquisition of a majority stake in Telefonica Czech Republic.
Syndication is expected to take place in December, when the final terms and conditions will be revealed.
Issuing banks expect it to generate strong appetite given the demand for quality loan assets in Central Europe and a limited number of large-scale opportunities.
Societe Generale is leading the consortium of banks providing the loan. Citi, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, ING, KBC Bank, RBS and Unicredit are acting as MLAs, underwriters and bookrunners.
PPF, founded by Czech billionaire Petr Kellner, agreed a few weeks ago to acquire Spanish incumbent Telefonica’s 65.9% stake in Telefonica CR for Kc63.6bn (US$3.32bn).
The investment group is looking to fund the purchase, which also includes Telefonica Slovakia, with the syndicated loan and an equity cheque of Kc35.5bn (US$1.85bn).
PPF also plans to launch a mandatory takeover offer for the remaining shares in Telefonica CR. Telefonica will retain a 4.9% stake.
