Middle Eastern pay-TV provider OSN has secured a US$200m five-year loan, its first financing facility.
The Dubai-based company, which was formed in 2009 through the merger of Showtime Arabia and Orbit Communications Company, said proceeds would be used…
Middle Eastern pay-TV provider OSN has secured a US$200m five-year loan, its first financing facility.
The Dubai-based company, which was formed in 2009 through the merger of Showtime Arabia and Orbit Communications Company, said proceeds would be used to grow its core business.
Mashreq acted as the sole mandated lead arranger, bookrunner and underwriter for the financing, while Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citibank, HSBC and National Bank of Kuwait comprised the lending syndicate.
David Butorac, chief executive officer of OSN, commented: “The pay-TV industry in the MENA region is fast-growing and has enormous growth potential. Given the changing preferences of television audiences who value premium and exclusive content that OSN is consistently focused on delivering, this potential is becoming increasingly tangible.
“The successful debut of our financing facility highlights the trust which financial institutions place in our competencies and prospects.”
OSN is owned and operated by Panther Media Group Limited, a company registered in the Dubai International Financial Centre that is in turn owned by Middle Eastern investment companies KIPCO (60.5%) and Mawarid Group Limited (39.5%).
In June 2013, KIPCO announced that OSN’s owners had appointed Rothschild to evaluate a potential IPO of the pay-TV operator. However, OSN’s chief financial officer Olivier Sage stated in a recent interview with Bloomberg that this plan had been scrapped and that the company was focussing on growing its subscriber base
Local brokerage, Arqaam Capital, recently raised its valuation of OSN to US$4.3bn from its estimate of US$2.5bn. The company added that it made more sense for OSN to wait a couple of years before undertaking an IPO in order to take advantage of its rapid growth.