Kuwaiti telecoms operator Zain has appointed Credit Agricole as its consultant to sell a stake in affiliate Zain Saudi, an unidentified source said in published remarks on Wednesday.    

On March 15, Zain conditionally accepted an offer from joint bidders Kingdom Holding and Bahrain Telecom (Batelco) to buy a 25 percent stake for $950 million in Zain Saudi.

"The bank began cooperating with the bidders' consultant to arrange for due dilegence after certain procedures are prepared for first," Al-Jarida said, citing the source.

On Sunday, a Zain source told Reuters that a preliminary contract is expected to be signed by early next week. "The preliminary contract will be signed within the end of this week or beginning of next week, because the banks (creditor) have to see if they will accept transferring the guarantees from Zain to the alliance," the source said.

Kingdom and Batelco agreed to guarantee part of Zain Saudi's debt last week. - Reuters