KUALA LUMPUR – Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd (MBNS), has accepted a term loan facility of up to RM400 million from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Malaysia Bhd (SMBC).
The media company stated that the facility was granted to MBNS on “a clean basis.”
“The first drawdown of the facility shall be made within three months from the date of the facility agreement and is available for multiple drawdowns thereafter.
“The facility shall be fully repaid on or before the expiry of four years from the date of the first drawdown, with a one-year option to extend. This is a principal amortisation facility with the first instalment payable by MBNS 24 months from the first drawdown date,” it said in a stock exchange filing.
Astro Malaysia said the purpose of the facility is to finance MBNS’s costs related to the production, purchase, and licensing of content, programmes or channels, as well as its purchase of set-top boxes, including the settlement of vendor financing.
“Furthermore, the loan is for operating expenditure and its capital expenditure, including asset acquisition for broadcasting and transmission, and the acquisition of software and platforms.
“It also serves to refinance the existing term loan facility of RM380 million from SMBC, obtained on August 9, 2018,” it said. – August 14, 2023