The Board of Directors of Zain Saudi, at a meeting approved a non binding Term Sheet with the Kingdom Holding Company and Batelco Group Consortium, which paves the way for due diligence to be completed for the sale of 25% stake in Zain Saudi .
Batelco added that all companies involved expressed their complete satisfaction with the outcome.
“We just cleared a major milestone towards a successful closure. All parties negotiated in a very consultative and professional manner to ensure value is created for Zain KSA and their respective shareholders. We will continue to work as one team to conclude the due diligence stage smoothly and successfully and ensure that Zain KSA rapidly and profitably builds market share,” Ahmed Halawani, Executive Director and member of the Board, said, while commenting on behalf of Kingdom Holding Company.
Batelco Group CEO, Peter Kaliaropoulos, commented that we were always confident that the Consortium would satisfactorily address all matters raised by Zain Saudi.
“This is a complex transaction involving four different companies. Understandably all issues relating to the Due Diligence exercise and the scope and commercial terms of the Management Agreement required careful consideration and negotiation by all parties. We are all pleased with the agreement reached and remain focused on accelerating Zain’s growth and value to its customers in KSA,” he added.
Due Diligence is expected to be completed by end of August and the transaction finalised by the end of Q3.
Earlier Peter Kaliaropoulos had reiterated Batelco’s confidence in their ability to raise sufficient funds to pay for their share of Zain KSA.
Batelco Group CEO had previously also rejected the news that the Batelco Group was struggling to raise the necessary funds for its joint purchase of Zain KSA due to the political climate in the region.
“Batelco Group (Batelco), based on proposals received from financial institutions, is confident that it has the capability to raise debt up to $1.2 billion.”
“Batelco delivered in 2010, $387 million in EBITDA and $289 million cashflow. Batelco, as at 28 February 2011 had effectively zero debt on its balance sheet.”
“With EBITDA and cash flows of such orders of magnitude, we are confident that we can raise the required funds to contribute to the Consortium with Kingdom Holding Company for the acquisition of 25% of Zain KSA,” he said.
Batelco Group, listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange, is the leading integrated communications’ provider in the Kingdom of Bahrain and a company of reference among the region’s key telecommunication players for innovation and customer experience.
Batelco serves both the corporate and consumer markets in the most liberalised and competitive environment in the Middle East Africa region. It delivers cutting-edge fixed and wireless telecommunications services to its customers in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt and India.