US giant advises banks on financing of multibillion-dollar Saudi telecoms licence

White & Case has turned round a $7bn (£3.5bn) Saudi Arabian telecoms deal in two months, advising a bank consortium's financing of an acquisition of a mobile telecoms licence in the region.

The US giant won the mandate in May following a competitive pitch to Citi and SAMBA (formerly Saudi American Bank), which led a consortium of 10 banks acting as lead arrangers. The deal closed on 27 July.

The financing enabled a special purpose vehicle owned by a consortium of Saudi Arabian shareholders and Kuwait-based Mobile Telecommunications Company to secure the licence.

The consortium of banks also included Gulf International Bank, Bank Saudi Fransi, Al Rajhi Bank, BNP Paribas, Calyon, Arab National Bank, Arab Banking Corporation and National Bank of Kuwait.

The deal was led for White & Case by London-based energy and infrastructure partners Chris Utting and Craig Nethercott, who worked with Saudi alliance partner Mohammed Al-Sheikh.

Clifford Chance's Dubai office, led by projects partner Malcolm Turner, advised the borrower.

The debt package was divided into a guarantee-facility of just under $5bn (£2.5bn) against payment default by the borrower, and a $2.5bn (£1.3bn) Islamic Murabaha term loan.

The licence is the third mobile telecoms licence to be granted in Saudi. In March, White & Case advised on the second licence to be issued, acting for the Saudi borrower Mobily – a brand name of Etihad Etisalat – on a $2.9bn (£1.5bn) Islamic financing facility.

Utting said: "There was a lot of corporate work on the Saudi side and having Saudi capability and an office in the region was critical.

"We expect further telecoms financings across the region underpinned by rapidly rising consumer demand," he added.

The deal caps off a busy run for White & Case's acquisition finance team. In June, White & Case advised Deutsche Bank on the financing of Novator Partners' E3.3bn (£2.2bn) buy-out of Icelandic drug company Actavis and in March the US firm acted for debt underwriter BNP Paribas on Bridgepoint Capital's £360m acquisition of Fat Face.