Banks, Engro sign Rs4.5b Islamic syndicated facility

Engro Enfrashare, a wholly owned subsidiary of Engro Corporation, has entered an Islamic syndicate arrangement amounting to Rs 4,500 million; led by Meezan Bank and Faysal Bank.

The agreement was signed here at Engro Corporation's Headquarters in the presence of President and CEO of Engro Corporation, Ghias Khan, EC's Chief Financial Officer, Mazhar Hasnani, CEO of Engro Enfrashare, Faisal Sattar, President and CEO of MBL, Irfan Siddiqui, Deputy CEO of the Ariful Islam, FBL's President and CEO Yousaf Hussain and other senior representatives of both institutions said.

The proceeds raised through this Islamic syndication will be utilized to finance the development of tower sites for various mobile networks operating in Pakistan. As per terms of the financing arrangement, the tenor of the financing will be seven years with a grace period of two years. The syndicate included MBL, FBL, National Bank of Pakistan, MCB Islamic Bank and Allied Islamic Bank.

Last month, Engro had announced to enhance its total equity investment in the Telecom Infrastructure Vertical to Rs 21,500 million. The infrastructure was set up in 2019 to accelerate the development of connectivity infrastructure in Pakistan; providing an opportunity for the people to be part of the new digital era.

Engro Enfrashare was engaged in the acquisition and construction of shared telecom towers, provision of various telecommunication infrastructure and related services including state of the art network monitoring solutions. Since its inception, the company had now established strong relationships with all mobile network operators active in Pakistan and was working closely with them to develop build-to-suit (B2S) sites across the country to serve their coverage and capacity requirements.

On this occasion, Engro Corporation's President and CEO, Ghias Khan said Engro was committed to expand its footprint in the Telecom Infrastructure Vertical to power Pakistan's progress in the digital era. With the support of banking partners like Meezan Bank, Engro Enfrashare would continue to work towards its purpose of making connectivity more accessible and affordable for everyone.

MBL's President and CEO, Irfan Siddiqui said digitization would be a major element driving business success in the era the banks were entering. MBL was not only the leading Islamic Bank but the best bank in the country. It fully understood the significance of telecom infrastructure and for the reason it encouraged companies to build strong telecom infrastructure that would support their digitization initiatives and enable them to deliver a better customer experience.

Chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority Muhammad Tariq Malik Tuesday said that NADRA was taking revolutionary steps for introducing its first-ever 'digital national identity app' and digital system for verification of documents at people's doorsteps.

Talking to media, Tariq Malik said NADRA's recently introduced a PAKID mobile app for both Android and IOS is intended to facilitate applications for the country's national ID card, adding, PAK-ID can be used to enroll fingerprint and face biometrics, as well as capturing documents for submission.