Regional telecom giants Etisalat and Batelco are among several foreign companies interested in buying a key stake in Meditel, Morocco's No.2 telecommunications firm,  said three Moroccan dailies on Saturday.

Al Jarida Aloula, Al Massae and Akhbar Alyoum newspapers reported that Meditel was planning to list a stake of more than 25 per cent on the local exchange before the end of this year.

Meditel's owners, FinanceCom and state fund CDG, aim to sell the stake to institutional investors likely to be telecoms firms from Egypt, Bahrain or UAE, the dailies added.

'Othman Benjelloun had okayed on Thursday (during a board meeting) the plan to list Meditel on Casablanca bourse. The demand for the partial flotation will be submitted to the bourse CDVM watchdog in the next few weeks,' Akhbar Alyoum reported, citing unnamed sources at conglomerate FinanceCom group, which is owned by Benjelloun.

“Emirates Telecommunications Company, Bahrain Telecommunications (Batelco) and Egypt's Orascom Telecom (OT) are among several foreign companies said to be interested in buying a Meditel stake, the papers said.

Officials at CDG and FinanceCom were not immediately available to comment on the reports.

The three newspapers reported Meditel sought to increase its capital through the partial flotation. FinanceCom and state fund CDG equally own Meditel after buying stakes from Portugal Telecom and Spain's Telefonica  for 800 million euros ($1.15 billion) this month.

The two groups have said they are open to sell a stake directly to a telecoms operator or list shares on the bourse.

Meditel competes with Maroc Telecom and Wana, the telecommunications arm of Morocco's biggest conglomerate ONA.

Local analysts say Meditel needs to bring in a strategic investor as a shareholder to tackle fierce competition with Maroc Telecom and Wana.-Reuters