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Overview

ICBC provides $240 million loan to Cell C for second Frame Supply Agreement (FSA2) (Linked to Record ID#58622)

Commitments (Constant USD, 2023)$251,087,612
Commitment Year•2015Country of Activity•South AfricaDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•South AfricaSector•CommunicationsFlow Type•Loan

Status

Project lifecycle

Implementation

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Mar 30, 2015
Last repayment (originally scheduled)
Dec 30, 2022

Stakeholders

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

Funding agencies

State-owned Commercial Banks

  • Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)

Receiving agencies

Private Sector

  • Cell C Limited South Africa

Implementing agencies

Private Sector

  • Cell C Limited South Africa
  • Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Guarantors

Private Sector

  • Oger Telecom Limited

Loan description

ICBC provides $240 million loan to Cell C for second Frame Supply Agreement (FSA2)

Grant element•18.0523%Interest rate (t₀)•3.85265%Interest type•Variable Interest RateMaturity•8 years

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

On March 30, 2015, Cell C Limited (or “Cell C”), a South African telecommunications company, entered into a second Frame Supply Agreement (FSA2) with Huawei relating to the supply of RAN equipment and the upgrade and expansion of their LTE, MBT, and microwave networks. In the same year, Cell C entered into a Capex loan facility of $240 million and ZAR 1.3 billion with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to finance this FSA2 (see Record ID#58622 for ZAR portion of financing). According to a 2017 circular to stockholders, Blue Label Telecom (majority stakeholder of Cell C) listed the current value of the loan at $95.473 million (2015: $44.446 million, 2014: $0 million) with an undrawn facility of $144.527 million. The loan bears an interest of Libor + 3.45%, which is accrued monthly and settled quarterly. A percentage of the capital outstanding is repayable annually based on a sliding scale. The balance includes $0.399 million accrued interest, and the loan reaches maturity on 30 June 2023. The loan is 50% guaranteed by Oger Telecom Limited.

Staff comments

1. The month in which the loan was contracted is unknown, so the 6 month average Libor rate for 2015 (0.485%) was used to calculate the reported interest rate (3.935%).