Saudi Telecom has offered US$3.30 per share for the 74% of Viva Kuwait it does not already own. The cash offer values the shares at 9% less than the number three player’s closing price on Sunday, when it had a market cap of US$1.8bn.
Saudi Telecom (TASI:7010) has offered KD1 (US$3.30) per share for the 74% of Viva Kuwait it does not already own. The cash offer values the shares at 9% less than the number three player’s closing price on Sunday, when it had a market cap of US$1.8bn.
NBK Capital is advising STC, while Protiviti is advising Viva, according to Reuters. The companies were not available for immediate comment.
The offer period, the company said in a stock exchange filing, will run from 27 December until 31 January, after which STC will be able to announce how many of the 499.4 million shares have been tendered and confirm the total consideration to be paid.
STC announced in November that it was seeking approval from Kuwait’s Capital Markets Authority to make the offer.
Viva competes with Zain and Ooredoo’s local subsidiaries. STC acquired Kuwait’s third mobile licence in 2007, paying US$980m. It listed on the local exchange last December, nearly six years after completing a US$93.6m IPO.
STC has also been named as a potential suitor for Umniah, the Jordanian subsidiary of Batelco. The Saudi incumbent also owns 35% of Oger Telecom, the subsidiaries of which include Turk Telekom and South Africa’s Cell C, and 100% of Viva Bahrain.
In 2014, STC sold its Indonesian mobile business Axis to local rival Axiata XL.
Earlier this year, the company appointed Khaled Biyari as its new CEO, and Abdullah Bin Hasan Alabdulqader as its new chairman.