DUBAI: The local holding company of Zain Iraq, the country’s No.1 telecommunications operator by subscribers, appointed seven board members and a managing director yesterday, a step towards a mandatory initial public offering (IPO) expected in 2014.
Zain Iraq, a unit of Kuwaiti operator Zain, and its two rival national mobile operators were required to float a quarter of their shares and list on the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) as part of their 2007 licences, but all missed a 2011 deadline to do so.
Asiacell — 64 percent owned by Qatar’s Ooredoo — listed on the ISX in February after selling $1.27bn of shares in a public sale.
Zain Iraq’s IPO could be of similar size — it had a 50 percent share of the country’s mobile subscribers at the end of 2012, compared with Asiacell’s 36 percent, while its second-quarter revenue was $434m. Asiacell’s revenue for the same period was $487m.
Zain Iraq was a foreign-domiciled company, which would prevent it from joining the ISX, so a local joint stock company Al Khatem Company for Telecommunications was created to hold Zain Iraq’s assets.
Al Khatem — 76-percent owned by Kuwait’s Zain — has now held its first annual meeting, electing Mohammed Charchafchi as chairman, Asaad Al Banwan as deputy chairman and Bader Al Kharafi as managing director, according to a Zain statement yesterday.
“(These) are preparatory steps in order to list Al Khatem on the ISX,” Wael Ghanayem, Zain Iraq chief financial officer, said in the statement.
Reuters
