The chief financial officer of Almarai, one of the founding shareholders of Zain Saudi, reportedly said that his company would write down US$36m on its investment in Zain Saudi, if shares don’t increase in value by year-end.
Reuters quoted Almarai CFO…
The chief financial officer of Almarai, one of the founding shareholders of Zain Saudi, reportedly said that his company would write down US$36m on its investment in Zain Saudi, if shares don’t increase in value by year-end.
Reuters quoted Almarai CFO Paul-Louis Gay saying that the company would propose an impairment if the share price of the Saudi operator stays at current levels or falls further. Such an impairment would be around 136 million riyals (US$36.3m), based on Zain Saudi’s share price at the end of September.
Bloomberg noted that this would equal about 40% of the original investment, which was between 270m riyals and 280m riyals (US$ 72m to 74.6m).
Reuters said that analysts believe that Zain Saudi shares are not likely to recover, given the company’s capital restructuring.
Bahrain telco Batelco and Kingdom Holding recently withdrew from plans to acquire 25% of Zain Saudi.
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