Saudi cellco Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) has confirmed in a stock exchange announcement that it is “studying the possibility of selling towers”. This followed a news report and subsequent suspension of its shares from trading. The company added that…
Saudi cellco Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) has confirmed in a stock exchange announcement that it is “studying the possibility of selling towers”. This followed a news report and subsequent suspension of its shares from trading.
The company added that it had not entered into any agreement, or determined the financial impact of such a sale. In a separate announcement to the Tadawul exchange, Mobily invited shareholders to a general assembly on 9 June in Riyadh.
The Wall Street Journal had first reported the sale, and TAP Advisors’ mandate to run it. The company’s 10,000 local towers are worth a reported US$1.5bn-US$2bn. Boutique TAP Advisors, which has advised on tower M&A and financing in the US, Brazil and Africa, was not immediately available for comment.
Smaller rival Zain KSA is also reviewing a possible sale of its towers, with Citi as the reported adviser. It is also looking to sell towers in Kuwait and South Sudan.
Reported suitors are Towershare, Helios Towers, Eaton Towers and IHS, as well as American Tower, SBA Communications, Protelindo and Global Tower. Square1 Infrastructure and TASC Towers of Jordan have also been named.
With tower transactions in the kingdom long discussed, either deal would represent significant progress. Market leader STC and Mobily spent several years discussing a possible combination and sale of their tower assets, with the potential involvement of number three player Zain.
Linked to interest in that deal were GTL Infrastructure, Mubadala, Abraaj Capital, Ericsson and SREI Infrastructure.
