ICBC contributes $75 million to a $300 million term loan tranche of a $400 million syndicated loan to Telecom Personal for capital expenditures for the development of its 4G LTE network and refinancing purposes

Project narrative

On October 5, 2016, a syndicate of five lenders — including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $400 million USD loan agreement with Telecom Personal S.A. — the mobile subsidiary of Argentine telecommunications company Telecom Argentina S.A. — for capital expenditures for the development of its 4G LTE network and refinancing purposes. This loan carried a maturity period of six years. This loan had an A/B tranche structure: the $100 million USD A loan was provided entirely by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the $300 million USD B loan provided by commercial banks ICBC, Banco Santander, Citibank, and Itaú Unibanco S.A. (with each lender contributing $75.00 million USD). The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to fund an up to $600 million USD project for capital expenditures for the development of Telecom Personal's 4G LTE network and other network capex and the refinancing of some of its short-term debt. The project supported infrastructure work including new and improved telecommunications to be installed on many of the about 4,100 existing Telecom Personal towers and base stations, improvements in backhaul connections between those sites, and the development of 640 new sites per year for three years.