Syndicated term finance facility
Big relief for proponents of WiMax internet

FE Report

AB Bank Limited has joined hands with nine other leading financial institutions- both public and private in syndication, to finance Banglalion Communications-one of the two upcoming WiMax ventures in the country.

Under the arrangement, a total of Tk. 1.91 billion in debt would be raised through this syndication for the Tk. 3.7 billion Bangla Lion WiMax project at 60:40 debt:equity ratio, the authorities informed.

A fund raising ceremony was held in this regard at a city hotel Monday. Top officials from the participating banks and Bangla Lion were present on the occasion.

Apart from the lead arranger AB Bank Limited, other participating banks in this syndication are Sonali Bank Limited, Janata Bank Limited, Agrani Bank Limited, Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), Bangladesh Commerce Bank Limited, Mercantile Bank Limited, United Commercial Bank Limited, Standard Bank Limited and Saudi Bangladesh Industrial and Agricultural Investment Company Limited (SABINCO).

The move came as a big relief for Bangla Lion as well as the proponents of WiMax Internet in the country, as there has been widespread speculation about the market potential of this big budget hi tech venture in Bangladeshi context.

Bangla Lion's sole competitor in the local market Augure has already gone for full scale operation under the label Qubee and Bangla Lion, after its trial launching earlier this month, is now expected to follow them very soon.

"This syndication is a perfect example of public private partnership in the banking sector as both public and private financial institutions have joined hands in financing a project which would ceate platform for high speed internet penetration in Bangladesh", said Kaiser A Chowdhury, President and Managing Director of AB Bank Limited on the occasion.

"We have been pondering on the market potential of this Bangla Lion project for almost a year as the technical issues concerning this advanced technology is quite complicated", he added.

Explaining the high potential of WiMax technology in Bangladesh, Chairman of Bangla Lion Communications Abdul Mannan said, "With much higher speed and better range of utilities, WiMax is a step forward from its rival 3G and this is the technology of the next 10 years".

Managing Director of Sonali Bank Limited S A Chowdhury, Managing Director of Janata Bank Limited S M Aminur Rahman, Managing Director and CEO of Agrani Bank Limited Syed Abu Naser Bukhtear Ahmed, Executive Director of IDCOL Islam Sharif, Managing Director of Standard Bank Limited S A Farooqui, Managing Director of Bangladesh Commerce Bank Limited Md. Farhad Hossain, Managing Director of SABINCO Quazi Shairul Hassan and other top top officials from the participating banks were also present on the occasion.