UAE’s Etisalat hopes to complete Maroc deal by end of May

UAE’s Etisalat hopes to complete Maroc deal by end of May

 

[caption id="attachment_14476" align="alignnone" width="400"] (Etisalat expects to complete its purchase of a controlling stake in Maroc Telecom, agreed last November, by the end of May. (File photo: Reuters))[/caption]

 

Etisalat expects to complete its 4.2 billion euros ($5.78bn) purchase of a controlling stake in Maroc Telecom by the end of May, a top executive at the United Arab Emirates company said on Tuesday.

 

In November, Etisalat agreed to buy Paris-listed Vivendi's 53 percent holding in Maroc Telecom for 3.9bn euros, plus a further 300 million euros in 2012 dividends from the Moroccan firm.

 

Maroc Telecom has operations in Gabon, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Mali.

 

"It depends on regulatory approvals from the different countries where Maroc Telecom is operating. Based on our current estimation it will be before the end of May," Serkan Okandan.

 

Etisalat's chief financial officer, told Reuters by telephone, when asked when he expected the deal would be completed.

 

"We expect to get all the approvals before the end of May and depending on that we are expecting to close that transaction."

 

Etisalat reported a 70 percent jump in fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday.

 

(Reuters, Dubai)

 

(Al Arabiya News, 4 Tuesday March 2014 The Roman)