Bharti Said to Plan Agreement on $8.5 Billion Loan This Week
March 16, 2010, 11:49 PM EDTBy Katrina Nicholas
March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Bharti Airtel Ltd. plans to agree to terms with banks this week for an $8.5 billion loan that would help it buy most of Zain’s African assets, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Bharti, India’s biggest wireless operator, is seeking a six-year loan with an average life of 4.75 years, said the people, who declined to be identified as the details are private. The New Delhi-based company may pay interest of 2 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate, they said.
Zain, Kuwait’s biggest phone company, said on Feb. 15 that it entered exclusive talks to sell Bharti its African operations, excluding those in Morocco and Sudan, for $10.7 billion including assumed debt. The exclusive talks will continue until March 25, the companies said.
Bharti is also seeking a 100 billion rupee ($2.2 billion) six-year loan to fund the purchase, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. It may pay interest of about 8.5 percent on that facility, the newspaper said.
Banks seeking internal approvals to contribute to the dollar loan include BNP Paribas SA, HSBC Holdings Plc, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. and Credit Agricole CIB, the people said today. Standard Chartered Plc and Barclays Plc are advising Bharti on the acquisition, two people said last month.
Bharti spokesman Senjam Raj Sekhar didn’t answer a call or immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.
--With assistance from Mehul Srivastava in New Delhi. Editors: Will McSheehy
To contact the reporter on this story: Katrina Nicholas in Singapore at knicholas2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will McSheehy at wmcsheehy@bloomberg.net
