Indonesian towerco Tower Bersama plans to issue US$300m notes to refinance existing debt.
The offering will be issued via the towerco’s wholly-owned subsidiary TBG Global and has been awarded a (P)Ba3 rating by Moody’s with a stable outlook.
The…
Indonesian towerco Tower Bersama plans to issue US$300m notes to refinance existing debt.
The offering will be issued via the towerco’s wholly-owned subsidiary TBG Global and has been awarded a (P)Ba3 rating by Moody’s with a stable outlook.
The senior unsecured notes will be guaranteed by the parent company and will primarily be used to refinance a US$50m revolving credit facility and loans totalling US$95m. The remaining funds will be used to grow the business, said Moody’s.
As TelecomFinance previously reported, the towerco announced at its EGM earlier this month that it would issue US dollar-denominated notes. The listed company did not reveal the purpose of the bond at the time.
Tower Bersama has a high ratio of debt to total assets of around 50-55%, according to Moody’s.
“Although these priority debt ratios are currently running higher than Moody’s tolerance levels, it is our expectation that [Tower Bersama’s] management will bring the ratio of secured debt/total assets within the range of 28-30% by end-2014, failing which there could be potential for widening the gap between the CFR and senior unsecured bond rating,” said Nidhi Dhruv, an analyst at the ratings agency.
Fitch has given the proposed issuance a ‘BB (EXP)’ rating.
Tower Bersama owns and operates 8,439 telecommunication sites serving 13,708 tenants as of 31 December 2012. The company is majority owned by Saratoga Capital and Provident Capital.
