Reliance Jio attracts 26 global banks for $1.5 bn loan

Mumbai, Nov 18 (IANS) A total of 26 banks from America to Australia have participated in extending a $1.5 billion loan to the 4G telecom services arm of Reliance Industries that will be used to refinance a similar exposure taken in 2010, the company said.

The facility comprises one tranche of $1 billion with a maturity of 5.5 years and one more of $500 million with a maturity of seven years, and represents the longest which any company in Asia has obtained for an unsecured loan, the company statement said.

"The facility also saw strong participation from Middle East, Taiwanese and Japanese banks," saif the company, adding it was a rare occasion when the higher seven-year tenure facility saw a higher participation than for the lower maturity component.

The banks that joined as lead aggregators included some big names like Bank of America, Citi Group, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, DBS, HSBC, StanChart, Sumitomo Mitsui, Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Nova Scotia.

This apart, the syndicate also included Societe Generale and Land Bank of Taiwan.

Reliance Jio, the beneficiary company, is setting up a pan-India telecom network to provide 4th generation high-speed internet connectivity, communications services and other digital offerings in areas like education, health, security and entertainment.

"The facility is guaranteed by Reliance Industries and will be used to refinance the syndicated term loan facilities aggregating to $1.5 billion tied up in 2010," said the company statement.