Bangladesh’s largest cellphone operator Grameenphone will take up to Tk 11.02 billion in loans from local banks.
The decision for the syndicated term loan has been approved by the company’s board of directors at a meeting, according to the website of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
GP company secretary Hossain Sadat told on Thursday that the loan would be collected from the banks of the country.
“It has been approved in the meeting, and which banks the loan will be taken from will be decided after discussion,” Sadat said.
“In the last AGM (annual general meeting), we felt the necessity of having some liquidities and credit. The loan will work for both,” he explained the purpose.
The DSE website states that company wants to optimise its capital structure while it will work as an impetus to finance its strategic initiatives and projects amid fierce competition with other GSM operators such as Banglalink and Robi.
Grameenphone, a subsidiary of Norwegian telecoms giant Telenor ASA, was listed on the stock exchange in 2009 as the first company from Bangladesh’s telecoms sector.
The company’s last financial statement said it made post-tax profit of Tk 6.76 billion in six months from January 2011 while it was Tk 4.83 billion during the same period of 2010.