CAIRO: Telecom Egypt is considering acquiring all shares in Vodafone Egypt, according to a media report citing sources close to a potential deal involving Saudi Telecom Company (STC) buying a 55 percent stake in Vodafone’s Egyptian unit.
Telecom Egypt has a 45 percent stake in Vodafone Egypt.
Vodafone Global signed a memorandum of understanding with STC on Jan. 29 regarding the possible sale of the stake to STC for $2.4 billion.
Newspaper Al-Borsa reported that Telecom Egypt had commissioned Hermes and Citibank to study its investment opportunities in the deal, the seriousness of the acquisition and using the right of preemption.
It quoted the sources as saying that the banks had contacted four to five foreign banks that had expressed their agreement to finance the acquisition deal if the Egyptian government made a competitive bid.
The sources added that the list of banks included Mashreq Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank. They also said that a plan was being studied to restructure Telecom Egypt's WE network and Vodafone Egypt’s network and merge them.
STC said on Sunday that no agreement had been reached regarding the possible sale, but that dialogue would remain open and that any substantial developments would be announced.
The memorandum of understanding between STC and Vodafone was extended for a period of 90 days, and then for another 60 days on July 12, due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The terms of the deal included that the purchase amount be $2.39 billion. This amount equals a full valuation of Vodafone Egypt at $4.35 billion, provided that the final financial compensation is determined upon signing the final agreements.
Vodafone Global announced that all procedures and steps for due diligence had been completed regarding the possible sale of its stake.
The company confirmed that, despite the expiration of the memorandum of understanding, it was still in the stage of negotiations and discussions with STC to complete the deal in the near future.
Telecom Egypt said it had not received any offers from the two parties and confirmed that it was not informed of the details of the discussions and the terms of the negotiations between the two parties.
