Emirates Telecommunications Corp., (ETISALAT) the United Arab Emirates most valuable listed company, agreed to sell businesses in six West African countries to Maroc Telecom for $650 million.
The Abu Dhabi-based company, known as Etisalat, is selling operations in Benin, Central African Republic, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Niger and Togo, it said in an e-mailed statement today. The businesses provide mobile voice and data services.
Etisalat agreed in November to buy Vivendi’s 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom, Morocco’s biggest wireless carrier, for about 4.2 billion euros ($5.8 billion). The deal will be completed at the end of this month, according to Etisalat Chief Financial Officer Serkan Okandan, and will increase the company’s presence in Africa beyond its Egypt and Nigeria units.
Etisalat, which last month signed a 3.15 billion-euro ($4.36 billion) deal with 17 banks to fund the acquisition, said the sale of the West Africa assets is subject to the closing of the Maroc Telecom acquisition.
The takeover will give Etisalat control over the largest wireless carrier in Morocco. For Paris-based Vivendi, selling its telecommunications assets is a key part of the company’s plan to transform into a new entity built around music, pay-TV, European cinema and Internet in Brazil.
The agreement also includes Prestige Telecom in the Ivory Coast, which provides IT services to the operations of Etisalat in these countries.
Source: Bloomberg (by
