Qtel plans secondary listing for Wataniya on Qatar Exchange

Qtel, Qatar’s former monopoly telecoms operator, plans to list its Kuwaiti subsidiary Wataniya Telecom on the Qatar Exchange.
Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud al-Thani, the chairman of Qtel, who holds the same post at Wataniya, said he wanted to…

Qtel, Qatar’s former monopoly telecoms operator, plans to list its Kuwaiti subsidiary Wataniya Telecom on the Qatar Exchange.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud al-Thani, the chairman of Qtel, who holds the same post at Wataniya, said he wanted to make shares in the company available to Qataris.

Wataniya already has a primary listing on the Kuwait Stock Exchange. Qtel will now make Wataniya’s shares directly available to Qataris as well through a cross listing on the local stock market.

“This will give Wataniya a stronger international position and is a step to reinforce and solidify Wataniya’s leading position. It will pave the way for aspiring shareholders to own Wataniya stocks,” said Al-Thani.

Qtel has yet to decide when it will list Wataniya in Qatar, according to a Qtel spokesman.

“The cross listing is just to diversify their shareholder base and give Qataris a chance to invest in Qtel without the Asian exposure,” said the spokesman.

Wataniya operates mobile phone licences in Algeria, Kuwait, the Maldives, Palestine, and Tunisia. Qtel also operates licences in Indonesia, Iraq, Oman, and Qatar.

Qtel acquired a 51% stake and management control in Wataniya in a US$3.7bn take-over in March 2007. The Qatari operator has since increased its stake to 52.5%. The other big shareholder in Wataniya is Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund, the Kuwait Investment Authority, which has a 23.5% stake in the company.