ICBC contributes to $750 million syndicated loan to Argentinian TV provider Cablevision to acquire shares in Telecom Argentina

In September 2017, the Dubai (DIFC) Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), with Citibank, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, and Itaú Unibanco S.A. Nassau Branch entered into a $750 million USD syndicated loan agreement with Argentinian cable TV provider Cablevision Holding S.A. to support its acquisition of a further 13.5% of the shares of Telecom Argentina S.A. Cablevisión Holdings would acquire a 13.51% stake in Telecom Argentina that would raise its holding in the newly merged entity to 39% from 33%. Fintech, which controls Telecom Argentina, would in turn reduce its stake in the new company from 41.73% to 35%. According to a news report, the actual cost of the stake is US$634mn however US$750mn was requested. Cablevisión had previously said it would take up to one year to complete the transaction. On February 21, 2018, Cablevision Holding S.A. informed the Argentine Securities Commission and the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange that it had made a partial prepayment of USD $253,831,455.62 under the USD $750,000,000 loan. As of February 21, 2018, the outstanding principal amount of the Loan is of USD 349,891,073.33.

Additional details

1. The individual contribution of the four lenders to this $750,000,000 USD syndicated loan is unknown. For the time being, AidData has estimated the contribution of ICBC by assuming that each lender contributed an equal amount ($187,500,000 USD) to the syndicated loan.

Number of official sources

1

Number of total sources

6