Qatar Investment Authority wants to fully acquire Telecom Egypt’s stake in Vodafone Egypt via subsidiary: sources

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Sources in the mobile market revealed that the Qatar Investment Authority aims to acquire the entire stake of Telecom Egypt in Vodafone Egypt.

Sources close to the negotiations told Daily News Egypt that the negotiations, which have now been renewed, revolve around the sold share, and the Qatari sovereign fund wants to acquire the entire government stake in Vodafone Egypt, amounting to 45%, while the government wants to sell only part of the share, which has been a contentious point since the start. The negotiations have been going on for several months, according to sources.

The sources said that the Qatari Sovereign Fund may use one of the specialized subsidiaries to implement the deal, to be followed by the acquisition of the remaining stake of the South African Vodacom Company.

According to the expected scenarios disclosed by the sources to Daily News Egypt, the deal may be implemented in two phases. The first phase will aim to obtain all or part of Telecom Egypt’s stake in Vodafone Egypt, which allows them to be present with representatives on the company’s board of directors to be a window to learn about the nature of the market in Egypt and the nature of the competition is close, and then enter into negotiations with Vodacom to acquire its share.

The sources expect the deal to be closed before 30 June, given the Egyptian government’s efforts to provide investments worth $2bn.

The sources pointed out that the Qatari fund seeks to buy all shares of Telecom Egypt because the fund does not only target the Egyptian market as a source of profit, but also seeks to be present in the local market through a company through a strong operator, considering the Egyptian market as one of the important markets.

According to the sources, the market value of Vodafone Egypt currently reaches $3bn, compared to $5bn before the previous flotation.

Telecom Egypt’s stake in Vodafone Egypt currently ranges between $1.2bn and $1.3bn.

It is noteworthy that there were advanced talks conducted by the Qatar Investment Authority last October to seize a 20% stake in Vodafone Egypt, from the share of Telecom Egypt, and Telecom Egypt revealed at the time that it had not received any official offer from any party regarding Qatar’s investment for about $2.5bn.