Sunday, 04 March 2007
KUWAIT: Qatar Telecommunications (Qtel) has agreed to buy 51 percent of Kuwait's National Mobile Telecommunications (Wataniya) for 1.075 billion dinars ($3.72 billion), the largest telecom acquisition in the Gulf region.
"We have reached an agreement to sell 51 percent of the capital of Wataniya ... to Qtel," Faisal Al-Ayyar, chief executive of Kuwait Projects (Kipco), told a news conference in Kuwait yesterday.Kipco, which owned around 24 percent of Wataniya, was appointed last week by the consortium of shareholders to lead negotiations with buyers.
Qtel would pay shareholders 4.6 dinars per share, Al-Ayyar said. The share closed at 3.1 dinars on Wednesday, the last trading day of the week.
Qtel, which is bracing for the end of its monopoly in Qatar this year, was one of three Gulf operators named as potential bidders for the stake put up for sale by a group of Wataniya shareholders.
Qtel has been less active on the acquisition trail than other rivals in the world's biggest oil-exporting region. The company operates a subsidiary in Oman and bought a 25 percent stake in Asia Mobile Holdings, a unit of Singapore Technologies Telemedia, in January. It borrowed $2 billion in November mainly to finance acquisitions.
Emirates Telecommunications (etisalat), the second largest Arab telecoms firm by market value, said on Tuesday it had dropped plans for a bid for Wataniya.
The other potential buyer was Dubai-based Oger Telecom, owned by conglomerate Saudi Oger. It said on Wednesday it was not in talks on the stake but declined to say whether it would consider a bid.
© The Saudi Gazette 2007
