RIYADH: Zain Saudi, Saudi Arabia’s struggling third-largest telecoms provider, has appointed Fahd bin Ibrahim Al Dughaither as its new chairman, it said yesterday, without elaborating.
The affiliate of Kuwait’s Zain, reported a 2012 net loss of SR443m ($118.1m) and has extended the maturity of a SR9bn Islamic loan seven times since last summer.
The original SR9.75bn facility was agreed in July 2009 — Zain Saudi repaid SR750m from part of the proceeds of last year’s capital restructuring — and was arranged by Banque Saudi Fransi.
Its statement yesterday, posted on the website of the Saudi bourse, did not give any further information about Dughaither.
The company is competing against better-resourced Saudi Telecom Co, the former monopoly holder, and Mobily , an affiliate of United Arab Emirates’ Etisalat , which dominate the market.
Parent-firm Zain in July increased its stake in Zain Saudi to 37 percent from 25 percent after underwriting the affiliate’s capital restructuring.
Zain Saudi has not made a quarterly net profit since launching operations in 2008 and its debts stood at SR19.5bn as of December 31. Reuters
