Cairo – Mubasher: Telecom Egypt on Thursday announced it has signed a $500 million medium-term syndicated loan.

Egypt’s largest internet provider will use the loan to support its capital and operational expenditure and to refinance its existing short-term facility, according to a statement.

The leading telecom firm has assigned First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and Mashreq Bank (Mashreq) as bookrunners to jointly mandate and arrange the facility.

“FAB is the facility agent for the transaction and Mashreq Bank is the designated Account Bank,” the statement said.

The final syndicate of banks includes FAB and Mashreq Bank as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners, Arab Bank – Bahrain, Union National Bank (UNB), National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), and Arab Banking Corporation as lead arrangers.

Meanwhile, Ahli United Bank and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Limited - DIFC branch will be the lead arrangers and Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait - DIFC branch, Attijariwafa Bank, ICICI Bank Limited - Bahrain branch, Bank of Jordan Company, and BMCE Bank International PLC will be the arrangers.

“Telecom Egypt’s USD 500mn medium-term syndicated loan was 1.46× oversubscribed, which reflects the confidence of the respected international financial institutions in the company’s financial and operational strength,” managing director and CEO of Telecom Egypt Ahmed El Beheiry commented.

It is worth noting that Telecom Egypt previously posted a 4% year-on-year growth in consolidated profits for the second quarter of 2018, recording EGP 1.28 billion, compared with EGP 1.23 billion for the same period last year.

In the first half of 2018, the state-owned landline monopoly’s net profit fell 18.2% to EGP 2.06 billion, from EGP 2.52 billion in H1-17.