Bharti Airtel on Sunday announced tying up of USD 8.3 billion debt for the proposed acquisition of the Kuwait-based Zain Telecom's African unit. "The financing was over-subscribed with major international banks committing to underwrite the total amount," the company said in a statement here. For USD 7.5 billion for financing,the lead arrangers are Standard Chartered Bank,Barclays,SBI Group,ANZ,BNP,Bank of America-Merril Lynch,Credit Agricole CIB,DBF,HSBC,Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. In addition to the dollar financing,the SBI Group has committed up to USD 1 billion in rupee loan to Bharti,the company said. Bharti is in exclusive talks with Zain till March 25 to acquire the African operations of the Kuwait-based company.
