this story originally appeared in on aug 29 2013mumbai privately held telecom operator aircel ltd has tied up nearly rs 8000 crore in loans as part of a broad move to refinance its existing debt and coupled with an expected operating profit in the current quarter is now dressing up to find a suitor as per an agreement infrastructure finance firm idfc and financial services major credit suisse will give loans of rs 4500 crore and 500 million rs 3400 crore respectively two people familiar with the matter told et the troubled company 74 owned by malaysias maxis communications will use the funds to repay a part of the current rs 24000crore debt that falls due in january 2014 indias apollo group holds the balance 26 armed with a likely operating profit in the julyseptember quarter a letter of support from maxis and having repaid the immediate loans the telecom operator is expecting fresh loans from existing lenders the people said officials at state bank of india which was among a consortium of 15 lenders to aircel were unavailable for comment idfc didnt respond to emailed questions while cs declined to comment the new loans will essentially substitute the old ones and the temporary finance by idfc and cs will be returned said one of the two the main lenders have proposed a fiveyear moratorium followed by a fiveyear repayment cycle to aircel for the restructured loans while the company has asked for a 10year repayment said the second person detailing the negotiations the debt restructuring efforts will fetch the company enough time to find a buyer or make a stronger business case for a potential merger with a peer said the first person india is expected to come out with merger acquisition guidelines by end of september which some expect will lead to some much needed consolidation in the sector the chennaibased mobile phone company with licences to offer services in all of indias 22 circles was once gunning for topthree status by number of users but caught in a vicious circle of cash and credibility for the past nearly three years it has been languishing for several months now at number seven with some 61 million users a far cry from leader bharti airtel ltd which has over 191 million subscribers an aggressive 35billion expansion plan which included paying nearly rs 10000 crore to buy 3g and broadband wireless access bwa airwaves in 2010 wasnt matched by the necessary equity infusion from the promoters amid a central bureau of investigation probe into the change of company ownership in 2005 leaving the telecom operator cashstarved and debtladen the operating environment itself was extremely tough due to intense competition after a raft of new companies started offering services on getting licences and spectrum post 2008 aircel is unlisted and therefore does not disclose financials but another person familiar with the companys financials had earlier told et that the telecom operator was losing around rs 1680 crore annually