Bharti Clinches Zain’s African Assets For $10.7 Billion
Indian telecom major Bharti has clinched a mega $10.7 billion deal to acquire African operations of Kuwaiti firm Zain, which March 25 announced that “definitive agreements” would be signed soon.
“The Board is pleased to report that due diligence process has been completed and the parties are finalizing definitive agreements, which are expected to be signed in the coming days,” Zain said in a statement a day after its Board meeting.
Bharti, which had announced March 21 tying up of $8.3 billion for upfront payment, did not comment immediately though sources said top officials have flown to Kuwait to work out the details.
The money for funding the buy has been arranged from a clutch of foreign banks and the State Bank of India with Standard Chartered Bank committing the highest amount of $ 1.3 billion followed by $0.9 billion from Barclays.
In all, $7.5 billion debt would be dollar-denominated and the remaining about $1 billion will be in rupee loan from SBI