Wind Telecom, the holding company formerly known as Weather Investments, has stated that it has won “firm commitments” to refinance some E420m in debt.
Merrill Lynch International, Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley…
Wind Telecom, the holding company formerly known as Weather Investments, has stated that it has won “firm commitments” to refinance some E420m in debt.
Merrill Lynch International, Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley Bank International have reportedly agreed to refinance collateralised notes issued by Weather Capital Special Purpose 1 and due on 4 April 2011, the company announced.
Aldo Mareuse, Group CFO of Wind Telecom, stated: “Following the successful refinancing of Wind Telecomunicazioni’s debt in late 2010 and the receipt of Senior Secured Lender’s full support on Orascom Telecom, the commitment to refinance the WCSP1 Collateralised Notes will allow the Wind Telecom group to improve the long term capital structure without any short term maturities; it will also preserve Wind Telecom’s control over Orascom Telecom through the removal of a margin trigger mechanism on Orascom Telecom shares present in the WCSP1 Collateralised Notes.”
The issuer is a subsidiary of Weather Capital sarl, itself a subsidiary of Wind Telecom. Wind Telecom owns 100% of Italian mobile operator Wind Telecommunicazioni and 51.7% of Orascom Telecom.
Wind Telecom is looking to get its finances in order in case its agreed merger with Russian mobile operator Vimpelcom does not complete, something that is a distinct possibility due to the refusal of Vimpelcom shareholder Telenor’s refusal to support the deal.
