Saturday, Sep 10, 2011
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding (4280.SA) said Saturday its consortium with Bahrain Telecommunications Co. (BATELCO.BH), which is bidding for a stake in the Saudi unit of Kuwait's telco Zain (ZAIN.KW), expects completing due diligence on the operator by end-September.
"The Consortium to purchase Zain Kuwait's stake in Zain Saudi Arabia anticipates completing due diligence by the end of September 2011," Kingdom said in a statement posted on the Tadawul market website.
"The Consortium intends to move to complete its proposed acquisition of Zain Saudi based on term sheets signed in April and July of 2011 with Zain Group and Zain Saudi Arabia respectively, as soon as all outstanding conditions are satisfactorily negotiated with all parties concerned," it added in the statement.
Batelco and Zain Saudi Arabia (7030.SA) couldn't be reached immediately for comment.
Zain KSA said in June it had agreed to open its books to Kingdom and Batelco, which are bidding together for a 25% stake in the mobile firm, a deal worth an estimated $1.2 billion.
Zain KSA at the time said Batelco and Kingdom would have until the end of August--which this year coincided with the Muslim Eid Al Fitr holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan--to conduct due diligence. Batelco, in a separate statement in June, said it expected the Zain KSA transaction to be finalized by the end of the third quarter.
In July, Zain KSA said it had entered into a non-binding agreement with Kingdom and Batelco relating to the two companies' proposed stake purchase in the Saudi firm.
Kingdom shares Saturday were up 0.7% at SAR7.40, while Zain KSA traded flat at SAR6.20 at 0857 GMT on the Saudi market.
-By Dubai Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; +9714 446-1686; djnews.dubai@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-09-11 0905GMT
