Saudi Mobily refinances SR1.5bn Islamic loan

by Martin Morris Sunday, 11 October 2009

Saudi mobile operator Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) confirmed on Sunday it would refinance a 1.5 billion riyal ($400 million) Islamic loan originally used to finance its purchase of Bayanat al-Oula.

The short-term loan would be transferred to a medium-term loan over a four-year period, the second-largest mobile phone company in Saudi Arabia said in a statement.

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Lenders involved in the agreement include SAMBA Financial Group, National Commercial Bank, Riyad Bank, and Saudi Arabian British Bank (SABB).
Mobily, an affiliate of Emirates Telecommunications Co., had obtained the loan in early 2008 to buy up to 99% of its data arm Bayanat al-Oula, bolstering its presence in the Saudi data services market.

Before Mobily's takeover, Bayanat owned one third of the national fiber optics network project, while Mobily owned another third, thus boosting the latter's share of the project to 66%.

Mobily, which competes with Saudi Telecom (STC), the largest Arab telecom firm by market value, and Zain Saudi Arabia for mobile telephone users in the kingdom, posted net profit in Q1 of SR675 million (Q1:2008, SR448 million)

Net profits for H1 2009 were SR1.115 billion, a 49% increase over the same period in 2008.



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