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India’s Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) has formed two special purpose vehicles, or SPVs, in the Netherlands and Singapore to execute its US$9 billion ($12.65 billion) purchase of Zain’s (ZAIN.KW) African assets, The Economic Times said. Singapore Telecommunications owns 32% of Bharti.
The SPVs will own the acquired assets and will repay the debt from the cash flows from the African operations, but Bharti will step in if there is a default, the newspaper said today.
A spokesman for Bharti declined to comment on the report. Yesterday, Bharti, India's top mobile operator, said it was close to sealing its purchase of Kuwaiti group Zain's African assets giving it a foothold in the frontier market at its third attempt.
The Indian firm had said on Sunday it had tied up the entire financing requirement of $8.3 billion for the planned buy, through a host of banks.
The newspaper said that US$5.5 billion would be routed through the Netherlands entity, and the remaining through the Singapore SPV, citing an unidentified person familiar with the details.
It also said that Zain agreed to compensate Bharti for legal costs in case an ownership dispute erupts over the crucial Nigerian operations, which contribute 36% to its African revenues.
South Africa-based Econet Wireless is disputing Zain’s ownership of one of its most important operations, Zain Nigeria.
