The board of Kuwaiti operator Zain approved on Sunday a joint non-binding offer from Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) and Batelco for its 25% stake in Saudi mobile operator Zain KSA.
Batelco said in a release that the consortium offered US$950m in cash,…
The board of Kuwaiti operator Zain approved on Sunday a joint non-binding offer from Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) and Batelco for its 25% stake in Saudi mobile operator Zain KSA.
Batelco said in a release that the consortium offered US$950m in cash, subject to the findings of the due diligence and other approvals which could take at least six weeks. It added that the offer did not include Zain KSA’s US$3.8bn debt.
Earlier this month, Zain rejected separate offers from Kingdom Holding and Batelco as well as from Riyadh Group. This new turn increases the chance for Etisalat’s acquisition of 46% of Zain, a transaction worth US$11.7bn, as the sale of Zain KSA was a key condition for the deal to go ahead. This because Etisalat already operates in Saudi Arabia through its unit Mobily.
Kingdom Holding, owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, is advised by RBS while Batelco is advised by Citi.
Credit Agricole and/or UBS has been acting as adviser to Zain on its acquisition by Etisalat and its sale of the stake in Zain KSA
Batelco is already present in Saudi Arabia through its 15% stake in fixed-line operator Saudi Atheeb.
