Engro signs Rs4.5bn Islamic syndicate facility to expand telecom subsidiary

Engro Enfrashare, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Engro Corporation, has entered into an Islamic syndicate arrangement of Rs4.5 billion.

The Islamic syndicate was led by Meezan Bank and Faysal Bank, informed Engro in a statement on Tuesday. The proceeds raised through this Islamic syndication would be utilised to finance the development of tower sites for various mobile network operators (MNOs) operating in Pakistan.

As per terms of the financing arrangement, the tenor of the financing will be seven years, including a grace period of two years. The syndicate includes Meezan Bank Limited, Faysal Bank Limited, National Bank of Pakistan, MCB Islamic Bank, and Allied Islamic Bank.

Last month, Engro announced to enhance its total equity investment in the telecom infrastructure vertical to Rs21.5 billion. It said that the funds will primarily be utilised to fuel expansion in the Build-to-Suite (BTS) tower business of Enfrashare (Private) Limited, "including but not limited to the provision of efficient energy solutions, installation of state-of-the-art network monitoring solutions, and exploration of other investment avenues within the connectivity value chain".

Engro to inject Rs21.5 billion in its telecom subsidiary

Engro Enfrashare is engaged in the acquisition and construction of shared telecom towers, provision of various telecommunication infrastructure and related services, including network monitoring solutions.

As per the Engro Corp's latest financials for the half-year ended June, 2021 the company announced a profit of Rs29.11 billion compared to earnings of Rs15.79 billion in the same period of the preceding year.

Its profit for the April-June quarter amounted to Rs14.3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 46.1% compared with Rs9.79 billion in the same three-month period of the previous year.

The company's board of directors also recommended cash dividend of Rs7 per share, which was in addition to the dividend of Rs12 per share announced previously.

In April, the board approved an amount of up to $31.4 million towards conducting engineering, design, and technical studies including a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study in relation to the PDH-PP Project.