Telecoms group Econet Wireless has signed a US$362m loan facility with a consortium of financial institutions led by Afreximbank.
Most of the money – US$307m – will go towards the company’s Zimbabwean mobile subsidiary, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe…
Telecoms group Econet Wireless has signed a US$362m loan facility with a consortium of financial institutions led by Afreximbank.
Most of the money – US$307m – will go towards the company’s Zimbabwean mobile subsidiary, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe (EWZ).
The CEO of EWZ, Douglas Mboweni, said in a statement that US$255m of those US$307m will be used to refinance short-term facilities, “whilst U$52m will finance equipment purchases for further expansion.”
Mboweni added that “borrowing for [the unit’s] expansion projects remained possible only through its parent company.”
The other financial institutions forming the consortium are Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), Societe de Promotion et de Participation pour la Cooperation Economique (PROPARCO), China Development Bank Corporation (CDB), Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij Voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC), and Exportkreditnämnden (EKN).
Econet Wireless is currently involved in a legal dispute with India’s Bharti Airtel over the ownership of Bharti Airtel Nigeria.
On 24 January, the Federal High Court of Nigeria had said that the acquisition of a majority stake in the Nigerian company by Bharti Airtel in 2010 was “null and void”.
This is because Econet Wireless, originally a 5% shareholder in Airtel Nigeria, had allegedly not been notified of this transaction, as well as of other share transfers since 2003.
The dispute has yet to be settled.
