Telecom Argentina has placed a bond, the proceeds of which will be spent on network improvements. Telecom Italia meanwhile indicated earlier this week that it expects to complete the sale of its stake in the Argentina incumbent in 2016.
Telecom Argentina has placed 18-month and 36-month bonds worth up to Ps1bn (US$103m).
Overseeing the transactions are BBVA Francés, Banco Galicia and Santander Río.
The operator, which trades as Telecom Personal, has indicated that it will spend the proceeds on network improvements such as 4G deployment. It is in the middle of a two-year Ps30bn mobile and fixed network upgrade project.
The series 1, 18-month bonds will pay interest at a fixed nominal rate to be decided by the issuer for the first six months. From the seventh month, they will pay a variable rate. The Series 2, 36-month bonds will pay a fixed interest rate to be determined by the issuer until the end of the ninth month, and then a variable rate.
The bond programme, first publicised in a prospectus published in April, is authorised by stock market regulator CNV.
Part-owner Telecom Italia is trying to complete the second part of its exit from the Argentine group, but last month was blocked by regulator AFTIC.
Earlier this week, the Italian incumbent’s CEO, Marco Patuano, said he was confident that the sale would be completed next year, the chances of which appear to have improved now the Peronist party has been ejected from government. Earlier this week, a judge in Argentina’s Federal Administrative Court reportedly ordered an injunction on AFTIC’s blocking of another telecoms deal, NII Holdings’ sale of Nextel Argentina to media group Clarín. The move pushes back the review of that case by six months.
This week’s presidential election, won by Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri, marked the end of the country’s Peronist leadership by Nestor Kirchner and his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The outgoing president in particular had opposed Clarín and been seen as the force behind AFTIC’s recent decisions.
