Kith Meng, owner and chairman of Royal group which owned Mobitel on the cover of Forbes magazine.
By Jeremy Mullins
Phom Penh Post
The owner of mobile phone provider Mobitel has signed what is believed to be Cambodia’s biggest refinancing deal.
The Royal Group signed a US$591 million agreement to refinance Mobitel’s debts and expand its services, with the Bank of China acting as its main lender.
Prime Minister Hun Sen witnessed the deal, along with Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China.
The deal will enable The Royal Group to refinance a $421 million loan used to buy out a majority stake in Mobitel from Luxembourg-based Millicom last year.
It follows months of speculation in the telecommunications sector over a possible sale of CamGSM, the 100 percent operator of Mobitel.
Mark Hanna, chief financial officer for The Royal Group, said the new loan deal was “much longer term” than the previous arrangement with ANZ, Standard Bank and Leopard Capital, among others.
Scott Lewis, managing partner at Leopard Capital – which owned $5 million of CamGSM’s debt – said the firm was being repaid on a timeline it expected.
“I am surprised at the announcement and the way it was repaid, but it was in line with our expectation that we would be repaid within a year or a year and a half,” he said.
Securing refinancing some six months before the loan was due meant international banks would gain confidence in lending large amounts to firms in the Kingdom, said Hanna, who did not detail interest rates....read the full story in tomorrow’s Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours.
The Royal Group signed a US$591 million agreement to refinance Mobitel’s debts and expand its services, with the Bank of China acting as its main lender.
Prime Minister Hun Sen witnessed the deal, along with Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China.
The deal will enable The Royal Group to refinance a $421 million loan used to buy out a majority stake in Mobitel from Luxembourg-based Millicom last year.
It follows months of speculation in the telecommunications sector over a possible sale of CamGSM, the 100 percent operator of Mobitel.
Mark Hanna, chief financial officer for The Royal Group, said the new loan deal was “much longer term” than the previous arrangement with ANZ, Standard Bank and Leopard Capital, among others.
Scott Lewis, managing partner at Leopard Capital – which owned $5 million of CamGSM’s debt – said the firm was being repaid on a timeline it expected.
“I am surprised at the announcement and the way it was repaid, but it was in line with our expectation that we would be repaid within a year or a year and a half,” he said.
Securing refinancing some six months before the loan was due meant international banks would gain confidence in lending large amounts to firms in the Kingdom, said Hanna, who did not detail interest rates....read the full story in tomorrow’s Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours.
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