A/B loan to Brazil's Oi Group

New lending product provides value-added benefits to borrowers

The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) has issued an A/B loan to the Brazilian telecom operator Oi (Telemar Norte Leste S.A.). NIB’s loan will co-finance the expansion of the company’s 2G and 3G mobile networks in the São Paulo region of Brazil. Oi has concluded contracts with Nokia Siemens Networks for the supply of telecom infrastructure equipment.

“Providing the first A/B loan is an important step for NIB. We hope that this new product will further strengthen NIB’s positions in financing large-scale investment deals on the world’s growth markets, such as Brazil. For Oi, this A/B loan is providing a bigger financing package. The B Lenders also benefit from this structure by sharing the advantages of NIB’s status as an international financial institution,” says Johnny Åkerholm, President and CEO of NIB.

NIB’s A loan would amount to USD 100 million with a 10-year tenor and the B loan to USD 150 million with a 7-year tenor. The B loan will be fully underwritten by BNP Paribas and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.

The Oi Group is Brazil’s largest provider of fixed-line telecommunication services with more than 14 million subscribers (2007). The company also has 16 million mobile telecom subscribers and 1.5 million data services customers.

NIB is a multilateral financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

For further information, please contact
Ms Tarja Kylänpää, Senior Director, at +358 10 618 0237, tarja.kylanpaa@nib.int
Mr Dimitrijs Alehins, Communications Specialist, at +358 10 618 0296, dimitrijs.alehins@nib.int