Qatari telco Qtel plans to issue a ten-year bond after investor meetings finish today, according to banks arranging the transaction.
The US dollar bond will mature in February 2023 and order books are currently open, reported Reuters citing sources at…
Qatari telco Qtel plans to issue a ten-year bond after investor meetings finish today, according to banks arranging the transaction.
The US dollar bond will mature in February 2023 and order books are currently open, reported Reuters citing sources at the banks.
As TelecomFinance reported last week, the state-linked telco has mandated Barclays, HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, Mizuho Securities, Morgan Stanley and QNB Capital as joint lead managers and bookrunners for the new note issue. The exact size of the benchmark bond has not been revealed yet.
The note will be issued by Qtel International Finance, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qtel, and will be guaranteed by the parent company.
Investor roadshows commenced on 9 December, covering the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia.
Moody’s assigned a provisional A2 rating to the new notes, which are Qtel’s second GMTN programme. “The notes rating is in line with Qtel’s issuer ratings as Qtel will unconditionally and irrevocably guarantee the notes and the notes will rank pari passu with all other unsecured and unsubordinated debt of Qtel,” said the rating agency in a statement last week.
“[The note programme] has been registered in the Republic of Ireland and complements a [previous] US$5bn GMTN programme (rated (P)A2) that has been registered in the United Kingdom and which Qtel has utilised with the issuance of notes at a par value of US$4.25bn.”
TelecomFinance reported last month that Qtel had formally expressed an interest in acquiring Vivendi’s stake in Maroc Telecom.
An analyst with close knowledge of the company told TelecomFinance at the time that he expected Qtel to issue more bonds if they needed to finance the Maroc Telecom deal, which he predicted would cost between US$7-8bn. “Historically their bond issues have a very good response,” he said.
