Saudi operator currently controls 26% of the Kuwaiti mobile firm; deal will give Saudi Telecom a 100% stake
Kuwait’s Capital Markets Authority approved Saudi Telecom Company’s plan to acquire all the shares of its Kuwaiti mobile telephony operator Viva.
Saudi Telecom currently owns a 26% stake in the Kuwaiti telecom operator. Last month, STC submitted an offer to raise its stake in the Kuwaiti company to 100%. The Kuwaiti government holds 24% of Viva through different governmental agencies, while the rest of the shares are controlled by companies, investment groups, funds and individuals.
The CMA confirmed certain conditions still need to be met in order to provide final approval.
Saudi Telecom has set an offer price of 1 Kuwaiti dinar ($3.30) per share. The Arab telco also said the offer period will run from Dec. 27 to March 31, adding it will provide information about the number of shares purchased and total price after that date.
In Kuwait, Viva competes with Zain and Ooredoo Kuwait. According to the telco’s latest financial report, Viva ended the third quarter with 2.41 million subscribers and 31% market share. Viva initially launched commercial LTE services in December 2011 through spectrum in the 1800 MHz band. In 2015, the telco launched LTE-Advanced services.
In Saudi Arabia, Saudi Telecom offers mobile and fixed telecom services as well as corporate services. The telco also fully controls mobile operator Viva Bahrain and owns a 35% stake in Oger Telecom, which controls mobile operator Avea in Turkey and Cell-C in South Africa.
Serbian government rejects offers to sell its stake in Telekom Srbija
In other EMEA news, the Serbian government rejected six offers to acquire its 58.11% stake in fixed line incumbent Telekom Srbija. The government previously said it would not sell its stake in the state-owned telco unless it got the right price for the shares, valuing the holding at around 1.4 billion euros ($1.54 billion).
The government also confirmed the company will now go through a restructuring process, which will include a reduction in the operator’s workforce. The Serbian government currently owns 58.11% of the operator’s overall shares, while 20% of shares are owned by the company, 14.95% by the citizens of Serbia and 6.94% by current and former employees.
Founded in 1997, Telekom Srbija provides fixed and mobile services as well as broadband and multimedia services. Through its subsidiaries, Telekom Srbija also has operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
