Industrial and Commercial Bank of China provides ZAR 997 million loan to Cell C for unspecified purposes

In 2017, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) issued a ZAR 997 million loan to Cell C, a South African telecommunications company, for unspecified purposes. The loan had an interest rate of 3 month JIBAR + 3.45% (1.318% + 3.45% = 4.768%), accrued monthly and settled half-yearly. Interest was to be paid at six-monthly intervals or any other period as agreed to by the agreement's parties. The loan was set to expire on July 31, 2020. As of the end of 2018, the loan had fully disbursed. The loan’s balance (including principal and accrued interest) was ZAR 46.292 million as of December 31, 2017 and ZAR 48.935 million as of December 31, 2018. Principal outstanding was to be settled in two equal installments: one on January 21, 2020 and another on July 31, 2020 (on the third anniversary of the Completion Date). The loan agreement contained various covenants, including information covenants, financial covenants, general covenants in events of default, and remedies that could limit Cell C’s financial and operational flexibility. Upon a change of control of Cell C, or an illegality event, the loan was to be cancelled in full and all outstanding amounts were to become immediately payable. Cell C would be required to pay such amounts into a mandatory prepayment account, which could then applied by the Security Trustee towards prepayment and otherwise under the Intercreditor Agreement and other finance documents.

Additional details

1. Since the month and day that this loan was signed are uncertain the actual interest rate on the day this agreement was signed is unknown, the 6-month average rate over 2017 is used. 2. “Cell C Limited" Article lists LIBOR as the floating rate benchmark, but the JIBAR rate was used in the more recent 2019 source and therefore is recorded. 3. Cell C is South Africa’s third largest mobile phone company. 4. AidData has coded the loan as collateralized because an official source indicates that the ICBC loan ‘shared in the First Ranking Security Interests in the Collateral, on an equal and rateable basis with the Holders and the other Senior Lenders, on the terms set out in the Intercreditor Agreement.’ The same source identifies the property and assets of Cell C Limited as the underlying source of collateral.

Number of official sources

2

Number of total sources

2