Etisalat main tower located in down town Dubai, Tuesday Oct. 17, 2006, United Arab Emirates. (File Photo: AP)
Etisalat’s Egypt unit signs $120 million loan
National Bank of Abu Dhabi and HSBC will each provide $60 million
Etisalat’s Egyptian telecom subsidiary Etisalat Misr has signed a $120 million three-year loan with HSBC and National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the parent firm said on Monday.
The two banks will each provide $60 million, Abu Dhabi-listed Etisalat wrote in an emailed response to questions from Reuters.
“The loans come in the context of our desire to diversify our sources of funding ... to increase our competitiveness,” Etisalat Misr Chief Executive Saeed al-Hamli said in the statement.
The largest listed company in the United Arab Emirates and the country’s biggest telecom operator by subscribers, Etisalat owns 66 percent of Etisalat Misr.
The Egyptian unit accounted for about 1.2 billion dirhams ($326.71 million) or 9 percent of Etisalat’s third-quarter revenue, Reuters calculations showed.
The Egyptian unit had 1.48 billion dirhams of debt as of Sept. 30, its financial statements showed.
