DUBAI/LONDON: Etisalat, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) biggest telecoms operator, has lined up advisers for its bid for Vivendi’s 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom.
Restarting its stalled expansion drive, Abu Dhabi-listed Etisalat picked BNP Paribas and Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank to advise on the deal, three banking sources said.
A spokesman for Etisalat declined to comment. The state-owned Abu Dhabi company’s bid for Morocco’s Maroc Telecom is its first public approach for a foreign company since a $12bn bid for a controlling stake in Kuwait’s Zain failed two years ago.
Since then, the operator has overhauled management by appointing a new chief executive and new heads of finance and strategy with an apparent focus away from overseas forays that failed to add much to the bottom line.
Vivendi, the French media, entertainment and telecoms conglomerate, is looking to sell several assets as part of an overhaul aimed at cutting debt and reducing its exposure to the capital-intensive telecoms business.
Its majority stake in Maroc Telecom is worth about $6bn on current market value, and a potential buyer for the stake would also be expected to make a mandatory offer to minority shareholders, further boosting the takeover price. Etisalat is talking to banks about a syndicated loan of up to $8bn to finance the potential transaction, banking sources told Reuters Loan and Pricing Corp this month.
Other bidders for the stake include Gulf operator Qatar Telecom and South Korea’s KT Corp. Qtel has hired J P Morgan Chase as adviser, while KT Corp picked Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Societe Generale to advise and finance a potential transaction. Maroc Telecom has majority stakes in Gabon Telecom, Mauritania’s MaurieTel, Burkina Faso’s Onatel and Mali’s Sotelma.
Reuters
