The financing paves the way for development of a 50mbps-100mbps high-speed broadband wireless net­work throughout India. Infotel won an all-India high-speed data spectrum for 3G and broadband wireless ac­cess after bidding $2.74 billion in an auction held by the Indian government in 2010. Reliance Industries then ac­quired Infotel and vowed to back the network build-out.

The build-out financing was split between a $500 million 5.5-year loan to refinance an existing facility and a $1 billion five-year new loan. The tranches priced at a margin of 200bp over Libor and 195bp over Libor, respectively, and were allocated separately.

State Bank of India committed $84 million to the $500 million refinancing, alongside Royal Bank of Scotland, which joined with $38.07 million, BBVA with $30 million and ING Bank with $27 million.

Ten banks – ANZ, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of Nova Scotia, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Citi, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mizuho and SMBC – committed $21.56 million each. Standard Chartered joined on $17.45 million and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi contributed $15.93 million. DBS committed $12.6 million while four Taiwanese banks – Bank of Taiwan, Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Mega International and Taiwan Cooperative Bank – came in with $10 million. Credit Agricole committed $9.35 million to the 5.5 year loan and Taiwan Business Bank and United Taiwan Bank came in with $5 million each.

Commitments to the $1 billion tranche comprised: State Bank of India $194 million; Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi $61 million; Credit Agricole and ING Bank pledged $50.75 million and $50 million, respectively.

The same ten banks that committed $21.56 million to the $500 million loan contributed $49.79 million each to the new loan. Standard Chartered has also pledged to lend the company $48.25 million, while RBS committed $38.93 million and DBS provided $29.1 million.

Taiwanese banks Bank of Taiwan, Land Bank of Taiwan and Hua Nan Bank have committed $15 million, $10 million and $5 million respectively.

Infotel has recently invited bids from telecom tower operators willing to lease out around 26,000 towers across India. 

Infotel Broadband Services Limited
Status: Financial close December 2010
Description: $1.5 billion debt backing development of 50mbps-100mbps high speed broadband network throughout India.
Sponsor: Reliance Industries
Mandated lead arrangers: ANZ, Bank of America, Bank of Nova Scotia, BTMU, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Agricole, DBS Bank, HSBC, ING Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mizuho, RBS, Standard Chartered, State Bank of India, SMBC
Lender legal counsel: Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy