Indian cellco Bharti Airtel said that free cash flows would allow it to start repaying part of a US$7.5bn loan it took to buy the African assets of Kuwaiti company Zain, reported local publication Mint.
The Indian company is looking to prepay as much as…
Indian cellco Bharti Airtel said that free cash flows would allow it to start repaying part of a US$7.5bn loan it took to buy the African assets of Kuwaiti company Zain, reported local publication Mint.
The Indian company is looking to prepay as much as US$1bn, according to a banker cited by the publication. He was quoted as saying that the banks that syndicated the loan struggled to sell it to other banks at a profit, and therefore requested a prepayment.
Bharti Airtel launched the 4.4-year US$7.5bn multi-tranche loan in August. The facility was split into four amortising tranches, with lenders invited to participate on tickets equivalent to US$50m, US$35m-US$49m, US$25m-US$34m and US$15m- US$34m, paying 55bp, 50bp, 45bp and 40bp, respectively.
The loan pays a blended margin of 180.6bp over Libor and the arranger group initially included 11 lenders. Bank of Nova Scotia, Chinatrust Commercial Bank and National Bank of Kuwait subsequently joined the syndication after the company extended the September 13 deadline by a couple of weeks.
Bharti could not be reached for comment before going to press.
