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Overview

China Development Bank contributes to a $1 billion USD credit facility to VimpelCom Holdings to fund capital expenditures and the acquisition of Huawei equipment (Linked to Record ID#97815)

Commitments (Constant USD, 2023)$512,776,590
Commitment Year•2014Country of Activity•NetherlandsDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•NetherlandsSector•CommunicationsFlow Type•Loan

Status

Project lifecycle

Pipeline: Commitment

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Nov 19, 2014
Last repayment (originally scheduled)
Nov 17, 2022

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Ultimate beneficial owners

At least 25% host country ownership

Funding agencies

State-owned Policy Banks

  • China Development Bank (CDB)

Cofinancing agencies

State-owned Commercial Banks

  • Bank of China (BOC)

Receiving agencies

Private Sector

  • VEON Holdings B.V. (formerly VimpelCom Holdings B.V.)

Implementing agencies

Private Sector

  • Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Guarantors

Private Sector

  • VEON Amsterdam B.V. (formerly VimpelCom Amsterdam B.V.)

Loan description

November 2014 $1 billion USD syndicated loan to VimpelCom Holdings to fund the capital expenditures and the acquisition of Huawei equipment

Interest rate (t₀)•3.38465%Interest type•Variable Interest RateMaturity•8 years

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

On November 19, 2014, a two-bank syndicate — the Bank of China (BOC) and China Development Bank Corporation (CDB) — signed a $1.000 billion USD term loan facility agreement with VimpelCom Holdings B.V. — the Netherlands-incorporated telecommunications provider headquartered in Amsterdam wholly-owned by Netherlands-incorporated VimpelCom Amsterdam B.V., itself wholly-owned by Bermuda-incorporated VimpelCom Ltd. — to fund capital expenditures across the company's operations and to acquire Huawei equipment. The vendor financing facility carried a maturity of eight years and an interest rate of LIBOR plus 306 basis points (bps). The loan carried an availability period of three years (until November 2017). The facility was unsecured but guaranteed by VimpelCom Amsterdam B.V. The proceeds from the facility were to be used by the borrower to fund capital expenditures for various operating companies of VimpelCom and to finance equipment purchases by VimpelCom Ltd. subsidiaries from Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.. Record ID#97815 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#100813 captures CDB's contribution. As of December 31, 2015, the facility had not been utilized.

Staff comments

1. A 6-month LIBOR rate. AidData has coded the interest rate by taking the average the 6-month LIBOR for November 2014 (0.327%) and adding it to the margin (0.327% + 3.06% = 3.33%). For more information, see here: https://www.global-rates.com/en/interest-rates/libor/american-dollar/2014.aspx 2. The individual contributions of BOC and CDB to the $1 billion USD syndicated loan are unknown. For the time being, AidData assumes equal contributions ($500 million USD) across all the two members of the syndicate. 3. VimpelCom is an international telecoms company operating in 14 countries and headquartered in Amsterdam. It provides voice and data services through a range of traditional and broadband mobile and fixed technologies in Russia, Italy, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Algeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe. VimpelCom’s operations around the globe cover territory with a total population of approximately 739 million people. VimpelCom provides services under the "Beeline", "Kyivstar", “WIND”, "Infostrada" “Mobilink”, “banglalink”, “Telecel”, and “Djezzy” brands.