Safaricom considers green bond to diversity financing

By EB Content Studio

Kenya’s biggest company Safaricom Plc is considering a green bond as a funding option even as it nears commercial roll-out in Ethiopia this year, according to Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndegwa.

“It is certainly top of our agenda,” Ndegwa said in an interview in the capital, Nairobi. “You have to have structured something for you to get regulatory approval,” he said, without providing details.

Safaricom is in talks with the Nairobi Securities Exchange and regulators, including the Capital Markets Authority, as it weighs the amount and timing for the issuance, according to Chief Finance Officer Dilip Pal. 

“There’s a lot of encouragement for us to look at that as a possible option, but we need to really look at it in terms of the funding requirements that we have and how that fits into our overall strategy,” Pal said.

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Safaricom sees group earnings before interest and taxes this financial year between 87 billion shillings ($748 million) and 93 billion shillings, while capital expenditure will be in the range of 100 billion shillings and 108 billion shillings, Ndegwa told investors.

The Nairobi-based company converted a $400 million bridging loan for Ethiopia into a five-year $120 million facility, and 31.1 billion shillings seven-year loan, Dilip told investors Thursday morning. 

On Ethiopia, Safaricom expects to conclude a deal with the country’s state-owned carrier Ethiotel before the end of May on issues including interconnect transmission and tower sharing, according to Ndegwa. 

Shares fell as much as 4.3% on Thursday, to the lowest in about one and a half years.

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