Bahrain’s ministry of industry and commerce has received a request from mobile operator Zain Bahrain to list on the country stock exchange and has asked for objections to be submitted within 60 days.
The announcement was made in the ministry’s…
Bahrain’s ministry of industry and commerce has received a request from mobile operator Zain Bahrain to list on the country stock exchange and has asked for objections to be submitted within 60 days.
The announcement was made in the ministry’s newsletter published on Thursday.
National Bank of Kuwait and Gulf International Bank are reportedly advising on the listing process.
In April, Kuwait’s Zain announced the IPO of the Bahraini player, which started operating in 2003.
Under local regulation, Zain was required to float part of the unit within a decade of obtaining a licence but it missed the 2013 deadline. Reports suggested a few days ago that Zain is planning to launch the IPO by the end of June.
Zain CEO Scott Gegenheimer said late last year that his company wants to retain a majority stake in its Bahraini subsidiary once it is listed.
The telco currently owns 56.25% of Zain Bahrain and the offering of a 15% stake, as required under its licence conditions, would see it lose control over the unit.
But Gegenheimer told reporters on the sidelines of a conference that Zain would rather not go below 50% in order to “stay with a controlling interest”.
He added that discussions are still ongoing as to whether it will be a primary or secondary listing and therefore what the “dilution factor will be”.
Zain Bahrain, which claims to be the largest player in the country, is partly-owned by chairman Ahmed bin Ali Abdulla al-Khalifa (16.3%) and Vodafone (6.1%). Its competitors are Batelco and Viva.
