Reliance Jio Infocomm raises $1.5 billion in syndicated term loan

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited has signed agreement for a syndicated term loan facility of $1.5 billion to refinance its existing syndicated term loan aggregating $1.5 billion, tied up by the company in 2010.

The new loan facility is guaranteed by Reliance Industries Limited and fully underwritten by an initial group of 15 core relationship banks that comprise the mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners to the loan syndication, Reliance Industries stated in a release.

The deal witnessed significant oversubscription before it was launched into syndication and two banks joined in as lead arrangers, RIL stated.

This term loan syndication saw a total of 26 banks from all over the world, including North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and the Middle East, participate in the facility, RIL said in its release.

This facility comprises of $1 billion Facility I, which has a total maturity of 5-1/2 years and a $0.5 billion Facility II, which has a total maturity of 7 years and represents the longest average maturity for an unsecured syndicated loan of similar size in Asia this year, according to the company.

The new loan facility has been tied up at significantly better terms than the facilities being refinanced which were signed in 2010, RIL stated.

While the facility saw tremendous response in syndication and raised over $400 million, in compliance with RBI guidelines, this facility saw participation from only international Banks.

The facility also saw the higher tenor 7-year loan getting strong participation from Middle Eastern, regional Taiwanese and Japanese banks.

The 15 MLABs for the facility were Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, Bank of America NA, Barclays Bank PLC, BNP Paribas, Singapore Branch, The Bank of Nova Scotia Asia Limited, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd, Citigroup Global Markets Singapore Pte Ltd, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DBS Bank Ltd, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Singapore Branch, Mizuho Bank Ltd, The Royal Bank of Scotland plc, Standard Chartered Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Westpac Banking Corporation.

The two lead arrangers which came in before syndication are National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC and United Overseas Bank Limited.

The banks which joined in syndication are Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Societe Generale SA, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited, Singapore Branch, Land Bank of Taiwan, Singapore Branch, Mega International Commercial Bank Co Ltd, Offshore Banking Branch, Bank of Taiwan, Singapore Branch, CTBC Bank Co, Ltd Singapore, The Iyo Bank, Ltd and The Hyakujushi Bank Ltd.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, is the first telecom operator to hold pan India Unified Licence. This licence authorises Reliance Jio to provide all telecommunication services except global mobile personal communication by satellite service.

Reliance Jio holds spectrum in1800 MHz (across 14 circles) and 2300 MHz (across 22 circles) capable of offering fourth generation (4G) wireless services. RJIL plans to provide seamless 4G services using FDD-LTE on 1800 MHz and TDD-LTE on 2300 MHz through an integrated ecosystem.

RJIL is setting up a pan India telecom network to provide to the highly underserviced India market, reliable (4th generation) high speed internet connectivity, including various digital services on pan India basis in key domains such as education, healthcare, security, financial services, government citizen interfaces and entertainment. RJIL aims to provide anytime, anywhere access to innovative and empowering digital content, applications and services, thereby propelling India into global leadership in digital economy.