S Tel achieves financial closure

Mumbai, Nov 6 : One of the new entrants in the GSM space in India, S Tel Private Limited (S Tel) today announced achieving financial closure for its Rs 2,000 crore project with a consortium of banks led by the IDBI bank coming forward to provide Rs 983 crore.

The company, one of the new entrants in the Indian GSM space, today announced that eight leading public sector banks led by IDBI have come forward to provide the Rs 953 crore long term funding of nine years to the company.

The eight domestic banks forming the consortium include State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Bank of Baroda. In addition, the promoters, Siva Group as well as Batelco have already brought in the equity capital of Rs.1253 crores.

Commenting on the debt allocation to S Tel, Mr B K Batra, Executive Director and Group Head-Corporate Banking, IDBI Bank Limited said, 'We understand that Category C telecom circles have high potential for connecting large masses of India while also making business sense due to a huge untapped, less penetrated market. S Tel's sound business strategy and operating model with a focus on these markets are the key parameters for allocating this long term financial funding. Besides, the combined backing of strong Indian and overseas promoter groups, Siva Group as well as Batelco, played an important role in our decision.' On the occasion of signing the financial agreement with the lenders, Mr Shamik Das, Chief Executive Officer, S Tel said, 'With the successful financial closure, we are set to launch our services in six G (growth) Circles over the current year and early next year.

In line with our vision, we will be deploying the best telecom expertise with advanced technology & equipments to provide state of the art telecom experience to our customers. We will bring better choice to the consumer which is tailored to meet their needs.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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