Network expansion: Mobilink to raise $68.6m via sukuk
The credit guarantee will be extended by Mauritius-based GuarantCo
ABU DHABI:
Pakistan Mobile Communications (Mobilink) plans to raise Rs6.9 billion ($68.6 million) via Islamic bonds this quarter, Pakistan Credit Rating Agency said in a statement. The sukuk would help fund the network expansion of Mobilink, a subsidiary of Global Telecom Holding, and majority-owned by Russia’s VimpelCom. The credit guarantee will be extended by Mauritius-based GuarantCo, a specialised financial guarantor, indirectly owned by the development agencies of Britain, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands. Credit guarantees for sukuk are rare because of the profit-sharing nature of Islamic finance, but they could prove to be an important development, attracting a wider range of corporate and sovereign issuers to the Islamic bond market.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2015.
Pakistan Mobile Communications (Mobilink) plans to raise Rs6.9 billion ($68.6 million) via Islamic bonds this quarter, Pakistan Credit Rating Agency said in a statement. The sukuk would help fund the network expansion of Mobilink, a subsidiary of Global Telecom Holding, and majority-owned by Russia’s VimpelCom. The credit guarantee will be extended by Mauritius-based GuarantCo, a specialised financial guarantor, indirectly owned by the development agencies of Britain, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands. Credit guarantees for sukuk are rare because of the profit-sharing nature of Islamic finance, but they could prove to be an important development, attracting a wider range of corporate and sovereign issuers to the Islamic bond market.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2015.