UAE incumbent Etisalat has received significant interest from 18 banks to finance its US$12bn offer for 46% of Kuwaiti operator Zain, according to reports citing local paper Al Bayan.
Etisalat CFO Salem al Sharhan reportedly told the paper today that the…
UAE incumbent Etisalat has received significant interest from 18 banks to finance its US$12bn offer for 46% of Kuwaiti operator Zain, according to reports citing local paper Al Bayan.
Etisalat CFO Salem al Sharhan reportedly told the paper today that the undisclosed local and international banks have registered interest in supporting the acquisition following negotiations.
The group’s offer deadline for Zain was originally due to expire on 15 January, but has been extended to an undefined time after delays to the due diligence process.
In related news, Zain CFO Barrak al-Sabeeh was cited by Bloomberg yesterday saying that if the Etisalat deal fell through then his group would instead look to expand in emerging markets, such as the Far East, Indian subcontinent, East Europe and Lebanon.
Barrak al-Sabeeh added that the group would look to acquire an existing operator, rather than a so-called green-field licence.
A spokesman for Zain confirmed the comments, but told TelecomFinance that “any strategic expansion activities are always subject to approval by the board of directors of Zain at that time (which was not reported by Bloomberg)”.
He continued: “Given that the shareholding of Zain may possibly change in the near future, and I stress may, (given the reported ambitions of some of them to sell), it would be reasonable to expect that all strategic occurrences, such as expansion into other markets, will be subject to the new shareholding and the board of directors preferences at that time.
“Until the Etisalat matter is finalised either way or otherwise clear directions are provided by the board of directors of Zain, the company ‘Zain’ has no official stated position on its future strategic expansion direction.”
Etisalat did not respond to requests for comment.
Separately, Zain Saudi Arabia reported revenues of SR1728m (US$461m) for Q4 2010. This represented a 93% increase on Q4 2009.
