Indian telecom service provider Reliance Jio Infocomm on Monday said it signed $1.5 billion loan facility to refinance its 2010 loan.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Jio Infocomm, which has 1800 MHz spectrum in 14 telecom circles and 2300 MHz band in 22 circles, said the syndicated term loan facility was fully underwritten by an initial group of 15 core relationship banks that comprise the mandated lead arrangers and book runners.
The company in a statement said that the deal received oversubscription before it was launched into syndication and two banks joined in as MLAs. 26 banks from all over the world, including North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and the Middle East, participated in the loan facility.
This facility comprises of $ 1 billion facility I, which has a total maturity of 5.5 years and $0.5 billion Facility II, which has a total maturity of 7 years and represents the longest average maturity for an unsecured syndicated loan of similar size in Asia this year.
The company could tie up at significantly better terms than the facilities being refinanced which were signed in 2010.
The loan saw tremendous response in Syndication and raised over $400 million, said Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).
This was one of the rare occasions when the higher tenor 7 year facility saw a strong participation in syndication: the 7 year facility saw a higher participation (in percentage terms) than the 5.5 year facility; Facility also saw strong participation from Middle Eastern, regional Taiwanese and Japanese banks.
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