RCS&RDS puts up 80% of shares against loan

The owners of Romanian cable operator and 3G licensee RCS&RDS have pledged almost 80% of the company’s shares as collateral for a EUR500 million (USD734 million) loan from a consortium of 14 banks. Businessman Zoltan Teszari has offered his own shares in RCS&RDS plus the 78% stake he owns via Cable Communications Systems, adding up to 79.22%, reports local newspaper Ziarul Financiar. RCS&RDS is expecting to invest EUR200 million to deploy a 3G network in Romania, and it is also looking to expand its operations across central Europe. Besides Romania, it already operates cable networks in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Serbia.