By Modupe Gbadeyanka
One of the financial institutions owned by fourth largest telecommunication firm, 9mobile, formerly known as Etisalat Nigeria, the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has disclosed that it has made a provision on loans to the company.
This comes after Zenith Bank had earlier disclosed this month that it had made a 30 percent provision on its loan to 9mobile.
Chief Executive of UBA, Mr Kennedy Uzoka, was quoted by Reuters to have said, “We have taken a general loan loss provision on Etisalat (Nigeria).”
Though the bank did not give details of the provision, but said it had a N38 billion exposure to 9mobile.
According to the lender, the exposure was secured, and part of a syndicated loan with 12 other banks extended to Etisalat Nigeria four years ago.
Commenting further, Mr Uzoka stated that, “It is instructive to note that Etisalat has reasonably turned around in terms of subscribers and revenues,” adding that the bank was one of the lenders managing its receivables.
Recall that Etisalat Group pulled out of Etisalat Nigeria some weeks and requested that the use of its name be stopped in Nigeria, which forced the new management of the firm to change its name to 9mobile.
Four years ago, the company secured a loan of $1.2 billion from Nigerian banks for expansion, but last failed to meet up with repayment plans.
The banks had planned to take over the company, but the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) prevented such.
