A $100 million loan liability believed to have been taken by AirtelTigo from Standard Chartered Bank, has been excluded from the firm’s overall liabilities transferred to government.
This is according to the Minister for Communications and Digitisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.
Former owners of AirtelTigo, Bharti Airtel Ghana BV and MIC Africa BV, are said to have taken on loans running into millions of dollars.
The former owners together with government on Friday, April 16, signed an ownership transfer agreement in which all the assets and liabilities of the company was transferred to government.
But according to the Minister, almost all of the loans taken from local creditors by the firm have been forgiven with Standard Chartered bank for instance not seeking repayment of the loan facility.
“Hundred (100) percent of all the bank loans taken by AirtelTigo have been forgiven, more or less. The banks are not seeking the repayment of those loans,” stated the Minister.
Adding that other creditors have also slashed down the liabilities of the company significantly, hence the company’s debt burden has been drastically lessened.
According to her, the company is now only saddled with just about 50 percent of its liabilities.
She also noted that the shareholder loans of the Airtel and Tigo, as separate entities, have not also been passed on to government.
“That is one of the main items that was hurting the balance sheet of the company, but that has been taken care off now,” she stated.
Meanwhile, for the local creditors, who slashed down the AirtelTigo’s liabilities, the Minister assured them that government is going to sit down with them and look at ways in which it can assist the company to meet its obligations towards them.
As of December 31, 2020, AirtelTigo had 8.1 million-plus subscribers and offers direct and indirect employment opportunities to almost 10,000 people.
The Minister has assured all customers and workers of the company that their interests will be protected in the takeover process.
