HSBC arranges $45 m loan facility for Mobitel

HSBC announced the successful arrangement of a US$45 million, Chinese Export Credit Agency (ECA) - Sinosure backed loan facility to Mobitel (Pvt) Limited.

This is the first time that a transaction has been supported by Sinosure for a Sri Lankan Corporate.

The loan facility is a landmark transaction in corporate debt raising and was closed in record time.

Huawei and Mobitel jointly selected HSBC as the arranger for the Buyer Financing Facility, partly in support of Mobitel's GSM stage IV expansion project carried out by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

HSBC will act as the Mandated Arranger, Facility Lender, Agent and the Export Credit Agency Agent.

HSBC was selected as the sole arranger of this financing package based on the Bank's strong capabilities in arranging the Sinosure backed export credit facilities.

HSBC's strong network and previous experience with Sinosure ensured that the transaction would be closed in record time.

Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Sri Lanka and the Maldives Nick A. Nicolaou said, "Mobitel is a considerable force in the telecommunication industry in Sri Lanka, and has been instrumental in providing telecommunication solutions to a wide audience - urban and rural.

We feel this partnership will enable Mobitel, the second largest mobile service provider, to offer advanced technological solutions to its growing customer base in Sri Lanka.

In this instance, we are proud to contribute to their growth by arranging this loan facility."

The Facility will be used to finance a major portion of the current expansion carried out by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., China and Mobitel (Pvt) Limited, the second largest mobile operator in Sri Lanka. The financing package will be delivered as a term loan with the participating lenders being HSBC, and Credit Suisse.

Mobitel aims to add an additional network capacity of one million subscribers with this current expansion which will contribute towards extending their network coverage to rural areas outside of greater Colombo.

The distribution of the planned capacity expansion is equally split between 2.5G and 3.5G, thereby enabling growth in Mobitel's 3.5G network coverage and enhancement in network quality.