Zain fails to say how much shareholders will get from Bharti sale
Kuwait’s Zain failed to say how much of the US$9bn it made from the sale of its 15 sub-Saharan African operations would be returned to shareholders when the company announced its much-delayed annual results on April 1.
Asaad al-Banwan, Zain’s chairman,…
Kuwait’s Zain failed to say how much of the US$9bn it made from the sale of its 15 sub-Saharan African operations would be returned to shareholders when the company announced its much-delayed annual results on April 1.
Asaad al-Banwan, Zain’s chairman, said, “The profits from the sale of Zain Africa will be used in support of dividends for the coming financial years, which are expected to not be less than the cash distributions for the coming year.”
Zain has received US$8.3bn from the sale of its African businesses to India’s Bharti Airtel. It will receive another US$700m in one year’s time.
On March 30 when Zain and Bharti completed the sale, Zain issued a statement saying that it would use the proceeds to repay a US$4bn revolving credit facility before it returned the proceeds of the sale in the form of dividends.
Zain built up huge debts in a series of acquisitions between 2003 and 2007 which saw the business expand from its home in Kuwait across much of the Middle East and into sub-Saharan Africa.
The telco has yet to publish its full earnings statement showing its debt position at the end of 2009.
Nabeel Bin Salamah, who joined as chief executive officer in February, said, “The best is yet to come for Zain Group, especially in light of our strong financial position, which will help us make operational decisions in order to attain excellent future returns.”
The senior management team failed to hold a conference call with analysts.
