Airtel Africa has raised $500 million loan facility from a group of banks to refinance the Group’s €750 million Euro-denominated bond (c.$880 million) due 20 May 2021 in addition to its existing Group cash to reduce gross debt and associated interest costs.

The $550 was raised a diverse group of existing global relationship banks including Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Citibank, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank and India’s Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

The loan facility consists of a combination of a revolving credit facility and short term loans with tenor of up to 4 years and will allow the Group to optimise the efficiency of its capital structure with the free cash flows and cash receipts. Airtel Africa also recently announced tower sales and mobile money minority investments which are expected to boost its cash flow.

Airtel Kenya also denied reports that it was exiting the Kenyan market but instead, the telco is investing more into the country by launching 4G and upgrading some of its sites to 5G.

Airtel Kenya CEO Prasanta Das Sarma in a statement to TechMoran said, “Contrary to false online reports, Airtel is not leaving the Kenyan market. We remain committed to delivering quality and value-for-money products and services to all our customers whilst ensuring effective, uninterrupted communication is achieved across the entire country. We continue to significantly invest in the enhancement of our network and distribution across Kenya. We are now rolling out approximately 600 new sites to expand our network using the ultra-fast 4G technology across the country. In addition, across key cities, we have upgraded our network to be 5G ready. This significant expansion and upgrade will improve coverage as well as customer experience in both urban and rural areas. Our investment in offering quality customer service and positively impacting our communities remains at the core of our business strategy.”