SEK has provided a US$97.92mn loan to SK Telecom (SKT) of South Korea for the purchase of network equipment.

The money will go towards the procurement of 4G network technology from Ericsson-LG – a joint venture between the Swedish and Korean mobile technology providers.

The finance, which has a nine-year tenor, is covered by the Swedish ECA, EKN. It marks the first time EKN has provided a guarantee for a Korean telecoms deal.

Despite being fully-funded by SEK – the Swedish government agency that finances exports – the loan was arranged by Deutsche Bank’s Seoul office, who also acted as facility agent.

James Pumphrey, Deutsche Bank’s director of structured trade and export finance, tells GTR about structuring the transaction: “While it was SKT’s first ECA financing, they appreciated the benefits of funding diversification at an attractive all-in cost.
“The actual transaction was executed in a very short time frame to take advantage of favourable market conditions.”