Etisalat Maroc stake sale deal in 2 months
Dubai, September 11, 2013
The UAE's leading telecom operator Etisalat's planned deal to buy a majority stake in Maroc Telecom will be finalised in 1-2 months, Morocco's Minister of Foreign Affairs told reporters on Wednesday.
France's Vivendi SA in July entered exclusive talks with Etisalat to sell its 53 per cent stake in Maroc Telecom for 4.2 billion euros ($5.54 billion) in cash.
Morocco's government owns 30 per cent of Maroc Telecom, with the remaining 17 per cent publicly traded.
"We have agreed on all main terms and a deal may be finalised in one to two months," Minister Saadeddine Othmani told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai. "Everyone is happy (with the deal)."
He did not provide further details on the deal.
In August, Vivendi's chief financial officer said the company aimed to completed the sale of its Maroc Telecom stake by year-end.
Maroc Telecom offers fixed-line, mobile and Internet services in the kingdom and is one of Africa's biggest telecom firms, with units in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali and Mauritania.-Reuters
