DUBAI: Zain Bahrain, the island’s No. 1 telecom operator by subscribers, will launch its long-awaited stock market flotation by the end of June, an industry source said, in what could be the kingdom’s biggest share sale since 2010.
Bahrain’s Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) last April instructed Zain Bahrain, 56.3 percent owned by Kuwait’s Zain, to sell 15 percent of its shares in an initial public offering (IPO) and list on the local market by the end of 2013.
This deadline passed without comment by the companies or the regulator, but Zain Bahrain has now applied to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce for approval to become a public company, the source said, declining to be identified because the matter was not yet public.
The company will publish details of the application in the ministry’s gazette and must then wait 60 days for any objections to be lodged, although that is largely a procedural formality, the source said.
After that, Zain Bahrain can launch its IPO. It shelved a previous plan to go public in 2008.
Reuters
