French conglomerate Vivendi has sold its 53% stake in incumbent Maroc Telecom to Etisalat for €4.138bn (US$5.674bn).
The deal was first agreed in November 2013 but required regulatory approvals in various African countries where the Moroccan company…
French conglomerate Vivendi has sold its 53% stake in incumbent Maroc Telecom to Etisalat for €4.138bn (US$5.674bn).
The deal was first agreed in November 2013 but required regulatory approvals in various African countries where the Moroccan company operates.
The Maroc Telecom sale is in line with Vivendi’s strategy to focus on its media and content activities. It is also in the process of offloading its French mobile unit SFR to Altice but still owns mobile operator GVT in Brazil.
Financial advisers on Etisalat’s side were BNP Paribas and Moelis & Co while Vivendi hired Credit Agricole and Lazard.
Last summer UAE’s Etisalat, which wants to expand its operations on the African continent, was picked to buy the majority stake in the Moroccan operator. Other suitors, including South Korea’s KT Corp and Qatar’s Ooredoo, had left the bidding process earlier.
The Kingdom of Morocco has a 30% holding in the incumbent, while the remaining 17% of shares are in free float. Under Moroccan takeover rules, Etisalat is now required to make a buyout offer to the minority shareholders. However, the telco has not provided details on this.
To finance the deal, Etisalat recently signed a €3.15bn (US$4.36bn) loan agreement with 17 local, regional and international banks, €2.1bn of which come in form of a bridge loan, which will soon be replaced with a bond.
The rest of the purchase price will be funded by an Abu Dhabi state-owned fund, most likely to be Mubadala, according to an earlier report.
Separately, Etisalat announced last week that it would transfer its operations in six West African countries for US$650m to the Moroccan operator after closing the transaction.
Analysts suggested that the rationale behind the move has been motivated by Maroc Telecom’s success with its own subsidiaries in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali and Mauritania.
