Following Ooredoo’s withdrawal from the Maroc Telecom bidding race, French conglomerate Vivendi is reportedly urging France Telecom Orange to make an offer for its 53% stake in the Moroccan operator.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall…
Following Ooredoo’s withdrawal from the Maroc Telecom bidding race, French conglomerate Vivendi is reportedly urging France Telecom Orange to make an offer for its 53% stake in the Moroccan operator.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal wrote that Vivendi is looking to revive competition in the auction process, which is now down to one bidder – UAE’s Etisalat.
Late last year, Orange CEO Stephane Richard had said that an acquisition of Vivendi’s stake in Maroc Telecom could be strategically interesting, while confirming the company continued to seek out growth opportunities in Africa and the Middle East.
TelecomFinance understands that the French incumbent, which already has a 40% interest in Morocco’s second-largest carrier Meditel, is currently not actively involved in the auction.
Last week, Qatar-based operator Ooredoo announced that it has left the process. Its CEO Nasser Marafih stated that “it is no longer in the best interests of our shareholders to continue to commit capital to what has become a lengthy process”.
South Korea’s KT Corp had dropped out earlier because of valuation differences.
Vivendi is reportedly looking to raise around €5.5bn (US$7.4bn) from the sale of its shares in Maroc Telecom, which is also 30%-owned by the Moroccan government. Morocco’s largest telco currently has a €8bn (US$10.7bn) market capitalisation.
The stake sale is part of the French conglomerate’s comprehensive strategic review of its telecoms units last year, as it seeks to focus primarily on its media operations.
Although it abandoned the sale of Brazilian operator GVT late last year, Vivendi is currently eyeing an IPO of France’s SFR.
