Saudi incumbent STC has revealed the lenders involved in the US$1.2bn financing at its Indonesian mobile subsidiary, Natrindo Telepon Seluler (NTS), which operates as Axis. The 7.5-year transaction includes three facilities: a US$450m Murabaha facility,…
Saudi incumbent STC has revealed the lenders involved in the US$1.2bn financing at its Indonesian mobile subsidiary, Natrindo Telepon Seluler (NTS), which operates as Axis. The 7.5-year transaction includes three facilities: a US$450m Murabaha facility, arranged by Deutsche Bank and HSBC and underwritten by Deutsche Bank and Saudi British Bank (SABB); a US$400m facility for equipment purchases from Chinese vendor Huawei, underwritten by China Development Bank; and a US$350m facility for equipment purchases from Swedish vendor Ericsson, arranged by HSBC and backed by EKN, the Swedish Export Credit Agency.
All facilities are Sharia compliant.
Axis will use the proceeds to support its expansion and growth strategies for the next five years, with a focus on mobile broadband and improved coverage. STC said that Axis now boasts over 11 million subscribers and serves more than 400 Indonesian cities.
Incumbent PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) is considering buying back the shares of its mobile unit Telkomsel from Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel). Rinaldi Firmansyah, Telkom’s CEO, was quoted telling a shareholders meeting that the plan would help the company increase its profits. Telkomsel is 65 per cent-owned by Telkom, which in turn is majority held by the government, and 35 per cent-controlled by SingTel, the Singapore-based mobile giant.
But a SingTel spokeswoman was quoted as saying the company does not seem to be looking to divest its stake in Telkomsel. A few weeks ago, Firmansyah reportedly said that Telkom had earmarked Rp1trn (US$114m) for acquisitions this year. Telkom had previously declared its interest in Cambodian cellco CamGSM.
During a shareholders meeting, Telkom scrapped its US$1bn CDMA deal with local operator Bakrie Telecom, which was originally due to take place via a share swap before being thwarted by competition authorities.
The competition commission expressed concerns, saying the deal could lead to a monopoly of the CDMA market, 70-100 per cent of which Bakrie would have ended up owning.
