CDB, BOC, and CCB contribute to $127 million syndicated loan for purchasing Huawei equipment and rolling out 8ta mobile network

In January 2011, a consortium of eight banks signed a $127 million syndicated loan agreement with Telkom SA Limited (or “Telkom”) — a South African telecommunications company — for developing its mobile network in South Africa. The banks included China Development Bank (CDB), Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank (CCB), Barclays Capital, Absa Capital, Citibank, HSBC and the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure) provided insurance for the syndicated loan. The borrowing terms include a 7-year maturity but the other borrowing terms are unknown. The facility is was expected to be fully utilized during the 2012 financial year and repayable over a 5-year period. The loan proceeds were earmarked for the purchase of telecommunications equipment from Huawei and for capital expenditures to support the rollout of the company’s 8ta mobile network. Further implementation details are unknown.

Additional details

1. One MOFCOM source says that Sinosure provided the loan but Sinosure only provides insurance. 2. The individual contributions of China Development Bank, Bank of China, and China Construction Bank to the $127 million syndicated loan are unknown. For the time being, AidData assumes that each of the eight participating banks contribution equal amounts ($15,875,000) meaning that the estimated the collective contribution of all three Chinese state-owned banks is $47,625,000.

Number of official sources

2

Number of total sources

4