UOB Malaysia provides $192.9 million financing for Ericsson 5G rollout

UOB Malaysia has provided the first tranche of financing of a 800-million ringgit ($192.9 million) receivables purchase arrangement (RPA) to enable Ericsson Malaysia to deliver Digital Nasional Berhad’s (DNB) nationwide 5G network rollout, it said in a statement on Thursday.

The bank has also been mandated as the lead arranger for an additional 2.3 billion ringgit syndicated RPA for potential financial institutions.

“Upon acceptance of the syndicated RPA by the participating financial institutions a total of 3.1 billion ringgit will be raised in support of the supply, delivery and management of DNB’s entire 5G network,” the bank said.

The financing will form part of the estimated total working capital facilities of 5 billion ringgit required by DNB until 2024 to roll out the 5G network.

“It is intended that these facilities will be replaced by a long term sukuk programme, for which DNB has received strong indications of interest by potential lenders,” DNB Chief Financial Officer Nik Azlan Aziz said.

State-owned DNB has been mandated as the only party to accelerate the deployment of 5G infrastructure and network in Malaysia.

Malaysia said in July it had appointed Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson (ERICb.ST) as its partner to develop its 5G network and ecosystem. Reuters