Guaranty Trust Bank Plc is currently exposed to a financial risk of N42 billion ($138 million) loan to Etisalat Nigeria.
According to Mr. Segun Agbaje, Managing Director of GTBank, the debt will be restructured.
In a bid to renegotiate terms of the $1.2 billion loan it took four years ago after missing a payment, Etisalat Nigeria has opened discussion with 13 Nigerian banks. Presently, the loan is estimated at N377 billion minus interest.
Ibrahim Dikko, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Etisalat Nigeria, said that Etisalat missed payments on the loan due to the dwindling economic situation in Nigeria, the currency devaluation as well as dollar scarcity at the interbank market.
By virtue of its 40 percent stake in the Nigerian affiliate, the Emirates Telecommunications Group (Etisalat), was responsible for 3.7 percent revenue of Etisalat Nigeria in 2013. Etisalat Nigeria signed a $1.2 billion medium-term facility with 13 Nigerian banks, also in 2013, which it used to refinance an existing $650 million loan and fund a modernisation of its network.
Dikko explained that Etisalat Nigeria performed well in 2016 with the company yielding profit at the level of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, while loan repayments had been up to date “until recently.”