Standard Bank Group lends $30m debt facility to Eaton for Ghana tower investments

The Standard Bank Group, parent company of Stanbic Bank Ghana has provided a debut debt financing of $30 million to Eaton Towers for investments in Ghana.

“The transaction provides for a five-year senior secured term loan facility to fund the enhancement and upgrade of towers under a Site Sharing and Maintenance Agreement contract with Vodafone Ghana,” the South African-based lender said in a statement January 12, 2012.

The bank added “It will fund further capital expenditure in relation to the build-out of up to 300 additional wireless towers in Ghana.”

“The cooperation between our local franchise and our international operations ensured that we could structure and deliver a debt facility that was tailor-made to Eaton Towers taking account of local practices and international lending standards. We are looking forward to supporting the Eaton Towers Group grow its business across Africa,” Paul Shang, Global Head of Investment Banking for Standard Bank Group said.

The Chief Financial Officer of Eaton Towers, Peter Lewis commented on the transaction saying “We are delighted to have completed our first bank debt financing with Standard Bank Group. Given our strong deal pipeline and the interest we are seeing from financial and development institutions, we are confident that this will be the first of many such financing deals.”

By Ekow Quandzie