MTN Ghana to sign 510 mln cedi syndicated loan via Ecobank

MTN Ghana is expected to sign a 510 million cedi ($112 million) syndicated loan facility arranged by Ecobank, sources close to the deal told Reuters on Wednesday. The medium-term facility, which will be signed on Thursday, has been raised from nine banks and was oversubscribed by 590 million cedis, the sources said.

MTN Ghana in 2012 raised $300 million from a similar loan to finance network expansion, but this was repaid by the end of May this year. MTN is the leading mobile operator in Ghana with 17.8 million voice subscribers as of September.

AirtelTigo, the second largest, serves around 10 million subscribers. Others include Vodafone, with about 9 million, and Nigeria’s Globacom, with 781,022 subscribers by end-September.