BATELCO has secured a $485 million loan with the signing of an agreement with a consortium of regional and international banks to fund its regional expansion plans.
Arab Banking Corporation and Standard Chartered, the initial mandated lead arrangers and underwriters, successfully closed the debut syndicated term loan facility.
The two major banking institutions arranged the financing which received strong response from international and regional banks and was oversubscribed by more than 60 per cent.
“This loan agreement is a positive response to Batelco from 16 major financial institutions and indicates strong support for Bahrain’s leading telecommunications company,” said Batelco chairman Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla Al Khalifa.
Batelco chief executive officer Peter Kaliaropoulos said the firm plans to continue its regional expansion drive through targeted acquisitions of other operators and licences to add to its most recent acquisitions of Umniah and shareholding in Sabafon. “While our origins are in Bahrain, we also have to tap into growing markets larger than Bahrain,” he said.
