Leading investors in Kuwait’s Zain telecom on Tuesday signed an agreement with a Malaysian-Indian consortium for the sale of a 46 percent stake in the emirate’s largest mobile operator.
The consortium consists of Malaysia’s al-Bukhari Group and India’s Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), India’s largest communications service provider, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Vavasi Group.
Bader al-Khorafi, a top executive of Kuwait’s Al-Khorafi Group, the largest private shareholder in Zain, told a press conference on late on Tuesday that the sale would be carried out within four months.
He said the value of the sale, expected to be about US$14 billion, would be paid in one time in according with Kuwait Stock Exchange rules.
Kuwait’s National Investments Co is arranging the deal on behalf of the Kuwaiti investors, al-Khorafi said.
The company said in a statement posted on the Kuwait bourse Web site on Monday that the sale was set for a price of 2 Kuwaiti dinars (US$7) per share.
Zain stocks were trading at about 1.500 dinars.
The government owns the largest stake of 24.6 percent in Kuwait’s oldest mobile phone operator.
Zain has a paid-up capital of 427.5 million dinars, representing 4.275 billion shares.
The company’s 65 million clients are located throughout 23 countries in the Middle East and Africa.
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