Abu Dhabi out of telecoms deal

ABU Dhabi state investment fund Mubadala has pulled out of Etisalat Nigeria after the telecoms firm failed to renegotiate a $1.2 billion loan taken out four years ago with 13 Nigerian banks, the central bank said on Friday. It gave no details on what it meant by “pulled out” but said it had intervened in the loan renegotiation talks to prevent job losses and asset stripping. Etisalat Nigeria had repaid $500 million of the loan before it defaulted in February due to a currency devaluation, and its only remaining investors are its Nigerian partners, led by company chairman Hakeem Belo-Osagie. On Tuesday, parent company United Arab Emirates Etisalat, said it was carrying its 45 percent stake at nil value, and that the Nigerian lenders had ordered it to transfer its shares to a loan trustee by Friday after the renegotiation failed. Neither Etisalat nor Mubadala, which owns 40 percent of Etisalat Nigeria, could be reached for comment. The original loan was a seven-year facility to refinance a $650m loan and fund expansion of Etisalat Nigeria’s network. – Reuters