The government of the UAE has given Etisalat a US$500m grant for its acquisition of a majority stake in Maroc Telecom.
Separately, the UAE operator has dropped a mandatory tender offer to buy the remaining 47% in the Moroccan incumbent.
The US$500m…
The government of the UAE has given Etisalat a US$500m grant for its acquisition of a majority stake in Maroc Telecom.
Separately, the UAE operator has dropped a mandatory tender offer to buy the remaining 47% in the Moroccan incumbent.
The US$500m funding was revealed in Etisalat’s prospectus for a planned bond issue, quoted by Reuters.
The company, which is 60%-owned by the UAE, was not immediately available to comment.
Earlier this month, Etisalat closed the purchase of a 53% stake in Maroc Tel from Vivendi for €4.1bn.
To finance the deal, Etisalat signed a €3.15bn (US$4.36bn) loan agreement with 17 local, regional and international banks, €2.1bn of which comes in form of a bridge loan, which will soon be replaced with a bond.
Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and RBS will reportedly arrange the debut bond. Etisalat did not confirm the names of the banks but said, in a statement, that they will organise a series of fixed income investor meetings in the UAE, Asia and Europe from 1 June.
The grant and the debt financing come on top of funding provided by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, which in return will take an 8.7% stake in the legal entity that will hold Etisalat’s Maroc Telecom stake, according to Reuters.
Exempt from tender offer
Etisalat has been exempted from making a mandatory tender offer for the remaining 47% stake in Maroc Telecom it does not own.
Under Moroccan takeover rules, Etisalat would have been required to make a buyout offer to the minority shareholders. The Kingdom of Morocco has a 30% holding in the incumbent, while the remaining 17% of shares are in free float.
A week ago Etisalat launched the offer, but this has now been scrapped.
