Talks between Etisalat Nigeria and banks to renegotiate the terms of a $1.2 billion loan have reached deadlock after the telecoms firm missed a payment, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Lenders, under pressure to avoid loan-loss provisions, are pushing to finalise the debt restructuring before next month’s half-yearly audit, a banking source said.
Etisalat Nigeria met with the lenders in London on April 28 led by Guaranty Trust Bank but they could not agree a way forward, the sources said.
Etisalat Nigeria could not be reached for comment.
The telecom firm signed the medium-term seven-year facility with 13 local banks in 2013 to refinance a $650 million loan and fund expansion of its network, but is now struggling to repay.
Etisalat Nigeria told Reuters that it was in talks with lenders to restructure the loan after it missed a payment.
Internet subscribers stand at 90m in March – NCC
“There is no conclusive view on the way forward,” one banker who declined to be named told Reuters after the meeting.
“The most viable solution which the banks are pushing for is for the shareholders to inject equity into the business.”
A source at Etisalat, which owns 45 percent of the Nigerian company, said the company was not willing to invest more after converting some loans it made to the affiliate to equity and writing down its investment to $50 million.
Abu Dhabi’s state-owned fund Mubadala owns another 40 percent.
Etisalat is the biggest foreign-owned victim of the dollar shortages plaguing Nigeria’s financial system.
Nigerian regulators in March agreed with local banks to pursue a default deal rather than a receivership for Etisalat Nigeria so as not to deter investors and to avoid a wider debt crisis.
But lenders are keen to keep a lid on rising non-performing loans (NPLs) to preserve their capital as Africa’s biggest economy battles a recession and currency crisis. NPLs hit 14 percent in 2016 from 5.3 percent a year earlier.
Etisalat has 20 million subscribers, making it Nigeria’s number four mobile operator with 14 percent market share.
South Africa’s MTN has 47 percent, Globacom 20 percent and Airtel – a subsidiary of India’s Bharti Airtel – 19 percent.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
