London 20 March 2003: 3 UK today announced it had entered into agreements with its lenders to extend and amend the term of its loan facilities to support the next-stage rollout of the UK's first commercial 3G mobile video, multimedia and communications service.
Under the terms of the agreements, 3 UK has secured its non-recourse financing through to March 2005, extending the current terms by one year. The agreements, which follow discussions initiated by 3 UK, were given the full support of its lenders. These changes provide the basis for 3 UK aggressively to lead the market into the next generation of mobile communications.
The facilities are provided by a consortium of 16 international banks, including ABN Amro, HSBC, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup and West LB together with leading equipment suppliers, NEC, Nokia and Siemens and 3 UK's majority shareholder Hutchison Whampoa Limited. Details of the facilities were not disclosed.
3 UK Finance Director Tim Pennington said: "We are delighted that our lenders have demonstrated their full support for our business strategy, enabling us to focus exclusively on the delivery of our pioneering services to UK consumers. In a difficult financial market the package of measures we put together, combined with the recognition of 3 UK's full compliance with all existing banking covenants and the support of our shareholders and suppliers, meant the proposals were extremely well received."
Hutchison Whampoa Limited Group Finance Director Frank Sixt said: "As shareholders we are fully supportive of these revised arrangements. 3 UK has made significant inroads in reducing project cost to date as well as overall anticpated project funding requirements going forward."
Continued Mr Sixt: "The support of the company's lenders, particularly in the current tight credit markets, is a solid vote of confidence both in the prospects for the 3G mobile multimedia business that the Hutchison Whampoa Group has worked so hard to bring to market and in the 3 UK management team's ability to make the business a success."
NOTES FOR EDITORS AND CSEs
About 3
Hutchison 3G UK Limited is delivering third-generation mobile multimedia and communications services under the 3 brand in the UK, offering a convergence of media, information and telephony to enable live video calls, multimedia content and entertainment while on the move.
3 services will be available from sister companies in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Israel and Sweden.
For further information, please visit: www.three.co.uk
3 contacts:
tel 020 7010 9312
media@three.co.uk
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