Pakistan’s Mobilink tests export credit guarantee for sukuk

(Reuters, 13 January 2015) Pakistan Mobile Communications (Mobilink), the country’s largest telecommunications operator, plans to raise 6.9 billion rupees ($68.6 million) via Islamic bonds this quarter, Pakistan Credit Rating Agency said in a statement. The sukuk, which will be listed, have been rated AA by the rating agency and will include a partial credit guarantee of 966 million rupees. The sukuk would help fund the network expansion of Mobilink, a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Telecom Holding, which is in turn majority-owned by Russia’s VimpelCom. The credit guarantee will be extended by Mauritius-based GuarantCo, a specialised financial guarantor indirectly owned by the development agencies of Britain, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands.