With the completion of its $ 10.7 billion deal in acquiring Zain’s Africa operations in 15 countries. Bharti Airtel said that it is confident of managing its debt position
Bharti Airtel has taken a loan of $ 9 billion to facilitate the deal.
"The cost of the dollar financing is 2.25 per cent above the Libor, and the recurring cost for acquisition is only 200 million dollars per year," said Akhil Gupta, group deputy CEO & MD.
"With 3G auction and this transaction, our net debt ratio to EBITDA is around 2.75. Our operating free cash flow is two billion dollars, which should help us in bringing down the net debt to EBITDA ratio," he added.
Gupta also added that Bharti has number of options to raise funds to pre-pay the loans and lower the interest outgo including selling equity in tower firm
The debt of the company has come into limelight since Bharti has recently paid Rs.12,295 crore for 3G spectrum. In addition to this, the company is also in fray for BWA spectrum. |