Etisalat Misr, the Egyptian arm of the UAE’s Etisalat, has agreed to borrow £E7.2bn (US$1.3bn) to expand its network and increase its capacity to offer additional services such as mobile broadband.
Banks will lend the company US$1bn in Egyptian…
Etisalat Misr, the Egyptian arm of the UAE’s Etisalat, has agreed to borrow £E7.2bn (US$1.3bn) to expand its network and increase its capacity to offer additional services such as mobile broadband.
Banks will lend the company US$1bn in Egyptian pound-denominated loans and US$300m in dollar-denominated loans, said Ehab Rochdy, the chief financial officer at Etisalat Misr.
National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr and National Bank of Abu Dhabi have agreed to lend the money to Etisalat Misr, although they have yet to say how much money each bank will lend.
Last November, Etisalat Misr said it would invest US$1.5bn in its network over the next three years and that it would consider listing on the Egyptian Exchange.
In October 2008, Saleh Abdooli, Etisalat Misr’s chief executive officer, forecast that the subsidiary would make its first net profit in 2010. Etisalat in the UAE failed to disclose the performance of its Egyptian unit when it published its first-quarter results for this year.
Etisalat Misr competes with France Telecom and Orascom Telecom-owned Mobinil and the local subsidiary of the UK’s Vodafone.
