BSNL consortium begins talks to acquire Kuwait's Zain Telecom

Sunil Batra
Geneva, Oct 5 (PTI) A consortium comprising India's
telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL, among others, Monday said it has
started negotiations for acquiring control of Kuwait's biggest
phone company Zain Telecom that has presence in 24 countries.
"We have started the process of negotiations for
acquisition of a controlling stake in Zain," BSNL's Chairman
and Managing Director Kuldeep Goyal told reporters here.
The talks come days after failure of renewed negotiations
between India's Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN.
Besides BSNL and MTNL, other members of the consortium are
India's Vavasi group and a Malaysian entity. The deal is
expected to be a multi-billion dollar transaction.
Speaking on the sidelines of an International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) conference here, Goyal said the
consortium has begun talks and was looking for at least 50 per
cent stake with management control. "We'll prefer a
controlling stake (over 50 per cent)," he added.
Goyal did not comment on what would be the stake of
individual consortium members, saying that these things would
be part of the negotiations.
Asked for his comments, Telecom Minister A Raja said:
"It's well within the scope of the PSUs. Thet have every right
to go global.
"If the Department of Telecom feels that it (the deal) is
detrimental to the two PSUs, only then the DoT will seek a
clarification from them."
Raja further added that "if they reach a deal, it will
then need the approval of different ministries as also from
the Cabinet."
Earlier Saturday, Kharafi Group, one of the largest
shareholders of Zain, had said that it has received interest
from a group of investors, including BSNL, MTNL, Vavasi and
Malaysian billionaire Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhar, for acquiring up
to 46 per cent stake in Kuwait's largest telecom company.
"We have received an official letter stating that BSNL and
MTNL are interested to participate in the proposal for buying
upto 46 per cent of Zain's shares from the Kharafi group,"
Kharafi's Group's vice-chairman Badr al-Kharafi had said in a
statement.
There have been reports that the stake could be valued at
about 13.7 billion dollars. Kharafi reportedly holds over 20
per cent stake in Zain. PTI SKB
AM