Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Citgroup and Westpac are looking to launch a NZ$1bn (US$790m) loan in October for Telecom New Zealand, as the incumbent is expected to soon split its operations, wrote Reuters quoting banking sources.
The loan is…
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Citgroup and Westpac are looking to launch a NZ$1bn (US$790m) loan in October for Telecom New Zealand, as the incumbent is expected to soon split its operations, wrote Reuters quoting banking sources.
The loan is expected to form part of a NZ$2bn (US$1.58bn) bridge loan, the balance of which will reportedly be refinanced in the bond market.
In late May, Telecom NZ said that it would carry out a structural separation, after officially winning the bid to build the country’s US$2.8bn ultra-fast broadband project (UFB).
Since retailers are only able to take a minority stake in the UFB, Telecom NZ has agreed to separate into an infrastructure operator and a retailing company.
While the retail business will retain the Telecom NZ brand name, the infrastructure business will be called New Chorus.
Following the demerger, scheduled for late November, Chorus is expected to have approximately NZ$1.7bn (US$1.34bn) in debt, while Telecom NZ may have up to NZ$950m (US$750m) in debt.
The company was not immediately available for comment when contacted by TelecomFinance.