Turkcell may pick up stake in Zain

ANKARA/KUWAIT: TURKCELL Iletisim Hizmetleri AS, Turkey’s biggest mobile phone company, is considering buying a stake in Zain, Kuwait’s largest mobile operator, Turkcell chief executive Sureyya Ciliv said.

“Zain is one of the companies our international development group is looking at, but at the moment there is no important development,” Ciliv said in Istanbul on May 6 in comments carried by Turkish newspapers and confirmed on Sunday by a Turkcell official who declined to be named in line with company policy. “We’re looking at the numbers and doing preliminary work on whether it’s suitable for Turkcell,” Ciliv said.

In March, Zain and Bharti Airtel had struck a deal to buy the Kuwaiti telecom firm’s operations in 15 African countries for $9 billion. Bharti said last month that it expected to close the deal by mid-May.

A Kuwaiti newspaper, al-Qabas, said a Bahraini investment bank may manage a Zain transaction for Turkcell, but did not reveal the source of the information or the bank. It also said Turkcell may offer 1.5 dinars ($5.20) a share for the Zain stake.

Meanwhile, another daily in Kuwait, al-Rai, reported that at least four parties have offered to buy majority stake in Zain. “The major shareholders in Zain group have received verbal offers from four parties for the possibility to enter negotiations to buy a majority stake in the company,” the newspaper said.

The shareholders would not want to begin negotiations for selling a stake in the group until the Bharti transaction is completed, the newspaper added.

The Kuwait Investment Authority and family-owned conglomerate Kharafi group are among Zain’s biggest stakeholders.