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LequteMan
Guest
The consortium of 13 Nigerian banks involved in Etisalat Nigeria's loan crisis have denied media reports that they have taken over the operations of the company.
According to a management source close to the banks, the banks major interest is repayment of the loan and not a complete takeover.
“We are not telecommunication companies, all we want is our money,” he said.
The source said that the company must pay back the loans in order not to jeopardise the economy, jobs, payment of dividends and depositors funds.
“We did not take over Etisalat as being insinuated, if we have taken over, it has to be registered with the CAC.
“They are still doing their business, they just want to weep up sentiment at the United Arab Emirates (UAE),” the source added.
He added that the company had about 20 million subscribers, adding that any interruption would affect many businesses, especially SMES.
According to the source, the affected Nigerian banks are owed about 570 million dollars out of the 1.2 billion dollars syndicated loan with the balance being owed vendors and distributors, among others.
The source said that Etisalat wanted to pay only 10 per cent of the loan borrowed and requested that others should be written off as non-performing loan.
He said that Etisalat wanted the consortium of banks to pay 50 million dollars out of 570 million dollars being owed, which the banks rejected.
The source added that the banks practically reduced the debt to between 20 per cent and 30 per cent at a discounted interest rate of six per cent below the market rate which was rejected by Etisalat.
“All we are requesting is for the Federal Government to wade into the issue and carry out due diligence on what the loan was used for.
“A foreign company cannot come and ride us in Nigeria, if this issue is not handled carefully, others will do the same thing,” the source said.
News Agency of Nigeria, NAN
According to a management source close to the banks, the banks major interest is repayment of the loan and not a complete takeover.
“We are not telecommunication companies, all we want is our money,” he said.
The source said that the company must pay back the loans in order not to jeopardise the economy, jobs, payment of dividends and depositors funds.
“We did not take over Etisalat as being insinuated, if we have taken over, it has to be registered with the CAC.
“They are still doing their business, they just want to weep up sentiment at the United Arab Emirates (UAE),” the source added.
He added that the company had about 20 million subscribers, adding that any interruption would affect many businesses, especially SMES.
According to the source, the affected Nigerian banks are owed about 570 million dollars out of the 1.2 billion dollars syndicated loan with the balance being owed vendors and distributors, among others.
The source said that Etisalat wanted to pay only 10 per cent of the loan borrowed and requested that others should be written off as non-performing loan.
He said that Etisalat wanted the consortium of banks to pay 50 million dollars out of 570 million dollars being owed, which the banks rejected.
The source added that the banks practically reduced the debt to between 20 per cent and 30 per cent at a discounted interest rate of six per cent below the market rate which was rejected by Etisalat.
“All we are requesting is for the Federal Government to wade into the issue and carry out due diligence on what the loan was used for.
“A foreign company cannot come and ride us in Nigeria, if this issue is not handled carefully, others will do the same thing,” the source said.
News Agency of Nigeria, NAN
