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Dakar - Africa's biggest cellphone operator MTN expects to price bonds worth up to R8bn next week and will raise the balance of funds needed for its acquisition of Investcom with syndicated loans.
MTN announced last month it had agreed to buy Dubai-based Investcom for $5.53bn, funding part of the deal in shares but around $3.8bn in debt, including bonds worth up to R8bn.
Chief financial officer Rob Nisbet told Reuters in a telephone interview on Tuesday MTN would price the 6-8 billion issue in the first week of July. It would fund the balance by securing offshore and local loans from the syndicated bank market.
This debt would be split between a 5-year syndicated loan, which it would start amortising after 18 months, and a 3-year revolving credit facility, which would not exceed $1.5bn. MTN expects to secure both loans at the beginning of July, so it can pay Investcom shareholders by the middle of the month.
"There is quite a lot of appetite in the bank market so we will easily make up the balance," Nisbet said.
MTN last month unveiled a plan to buy Investcom in a deal that will make it the second biggest operator in Africa and the Middle East and give it access to new high-growth markets.