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Cellcard Secures Over $110 Million In Loans to Repay Bank of China Debt

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CAMGSM PLC, the parent company of Cellcard, has successfully obtained a new loan from at least three banks to fulfil its debt repayment obligations to the Bank of China. The remaining debt, amounting to USD $111.5 million, was repaid through this new financing arrangement. 

In an announcement to the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX), CAMGSM revealed that the loans from three financial institutions, which included two local-based banks, were procured to refinance existing debts from the Bank of China.  The debt-to-equity ratio for term loans is 62.41 per cent. 

Canadia Bank has provided USD $20 million with an interest rate of 8.75%, while Maybank (Cambodia) Plc extended USD $42.5 million + 41.5 billion riel (approximately USD $10 million) at an interest rate ranging from 7% to 8%.  Additionally, a USD $40 million loan was secured from Malayan Banking Berhad, Singapore branch, at an interest rate based on the SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate) plus 4.85%. Disbursement of the three loans took place in July 2023, with maturity dates scheduled for July, September, and August 2028, respectively.  

Cellcard, in its statement released on August 16, 2023, highlighted that the Bank of China had amortised a loan of USD $111.5 million, and it has successfully been refinanced by the three aforementioned banks.  The original financing, arranged in January 2011 with a banking consortium led by Bank of China Limited, and provided by Standard Bank Australia, and New Zealand Banking Group, along with financial partners Carval, Black Rock, Farallon, and Leopard Capital, was used to repay an initial debt for the original acquisition of Millicom’s 61.5% shareholding of Cellcard.  

“This marks the retirement of the largest private credit facility ever established in Cambodia,”  CAMGSM and Cellcard said in their statement.  

Cellcard has already repaid a principal amount of USD $421 million and made interest payments totalling USD $302 million since 2009. This brings the total payments to the banking consortiums to USD $723 million. Cellcard made its debut on the Cambodian Stock Exchange in June 2023, and the company currently boasts a market capitalisation of $1,405,777,090, with a closing share price of Riel 2,870.

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