Standard Bank Group : Eaton Towers signs US$30-million debt financing with Standard Bank Group

12 January 2012 Standard Bank Group, acting through Stanbic Bank Ghana and Standard Bank South Africa, has provided a debut debt financing for Eaton Towers Ghana Limited. The transaction was signed on 22 December 2011 and provides for a 5-year senior secured term loan facility to fund the enhancement and upgrade of towers under a Site Sharing and Maintenance Agreement contract with Vodafone Ghana. It will fund further capital expenditure in relation to the build-out of up to 300 additional wireless towers in Ghana. Paul Shang, Global Head of Investment Banking for Standard Bank Group says: "This transaction for Eaton Towers demonstrates our dedication and expertise in the African telecoms infrastructure sector. The cooperation between our local franchise and our international operations ensured that we could structure and deliver a debt facility that was tailor-made to Eaton Towers taking account of local practices and international lending standards. We are looking forward to supporting the Eaton Towers Group grow its business across Africa." Peter Lewis, Chief Financial Officer of Eaton Towers, says: "We are delighted to have completed our first bank debt financing with Standard Bank Group. Given our strong deal pipeline and the interest we are seeing from financial and development institutions, we are confident that this will be the first of many such financing deals. This debt facility is an endorsement of our business model and demonstrates our ability to leverage our assets in Africa in a highly efficient way."