Nawras secures USD149m funding deal

Oman’s second national telecoms operator Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company, also known as Nawras, has announced the signing of a new funding deal worth USD149 million to refinance its debt and facilitate future investments. The new five-year facility consists of a term loan of USD87 million and revolving credit facility of OMR24 million (USD62 million) from a consortium of banks comprising Bank Muscat, DBS Bank, Qatar National Bank (Doha and Muscat) and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. Commenting on the deal, Nawras’ CFO Jorgen Latte said: ‘The new facility which drew great interest from many banks further improves Nawras’ conservative debt profile, enhances our financial flexibility and lowers our funding cost. We appreciate the continued support of our core relationship banks who work with us on a variety of exciting projects as we continue to delight our customers in Oman.’ Nawras is 55%-owned by Qatar Telecom (Qtel), while a number of Omani pension funds hold 5%. The remaining 40% is in free float.