The five-year medium-term facility which was arranged by Ecobank Ghana and Ecobank Capital through a consortium of the nine banks namely, Ecobank Ghana, GCB, Standard Chartered Bank, Barclays Bank, Stanbic Bank, Societe General Ghana, Zenith Bank, GT Bank, and Fidelity Bank, comes at a rate of 182 day Treasury Bill rate plus five per cent.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Chief Finance Officer of MTN Ghana, Modupe Kadiri said: “Customers have a high level of selectivity and sophistication. This means that huge capital investments have to be made to be able to meet the demands of the market and keep up with trends in technology, in order to be able to provide relevant products and services that will excite the market”.
He explained: “The result of this deal is a continuous investment and will further boost our capital expenditure (capex) and enable significant investments into key strategic areas to ensure a robust network in the delivery of a bold new digital world”.
That is why the telecom service provider considers the syndicated loan agreement crucial. The funds we are receiving would impact many people, Mr Kadiri stressed.
“As you may be aware, the mobile industry employs about 4,000 people directly and over one million indirectly (phone card distributors, communication centre operators, internet cafes, advertising agencies, suppliers contractors, etc. ”
Mr Kadiri noted: “This huge interest in MTN’s business is a clear demonstration of how successful our business has been in Ghana and the excellent financial health the company enjoys”.
For our part, by looking within Ghana to raise this amount of money, we are demonstrating our resolve to deepen and strengthen the local banking system by declining offers from foreign banks”.
We at MTN have absolute confidence in the Ghanaian economy and the people of Ghana, he said.
Mr Kadiri used the occasion to thank the Bank of Ghana for their exceptional support in granting approval for the deal. He also thanked the nine banks for their collective efforts and strong execution capabilities.
The Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, Dan Sackey said: “The culmination of today’s signing has been the result of true collaboration amongst various teams/stakeholders including MTN leadership, Ecobank Ghana, Ecobank Development Corporation, and transaction legal advisors (Bela and AB&David)”.
In 2002, MTN Ghana raised $300 million which was one of the largest syndication in Ghana outside the cocoa syndication, and which was successfully repaid in full without any default in May 2017.
