RIYADH: Qatari telecoms company Ooredoo, Kuwait’s Zain Group and the UAE’s TASC Towers Holding are in talks to create the Middle East and North Africa’s largest tower company, they said in a joint statement on Monday.
The negotiations are “to combine their approximately 30,000 telecommunication tower assets in Qatar, Kuwait, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq and Jordan into a jointly owned independent tower company in a cash and share deal,” the statement said.
However, the statement added that the deal is subject to agreement on final terms, signing of definitive agreements and obtaining all required corporate and regulatory approvals.
According to Ooredoo’s statement, the enlarged tower company will continue to operate as an independent and standalone entity providing passive infrastructure as a service throughout the region with a focus on operational efficiencies, synergies and carbon footprint reduction.
The statement added that both Ooredoo and Zain will retain their respective active infrastructure, including wireless communication antennas, intelligent software and intellectual property, to manage their telecom networks.
“This transaction will create a potential shareholder value uplift for both Ooredoo Group and Zain Group through a more efficient capital structure,” the statement noted, adding that both operators are committed to executing their respective growth strategies.
In line with Ooredoo’s evolved strategy to shift toward an asset-light model, the international communications company operating across the MENA and Southeast Asia announced in September last year that it was preparing for a potential carve out of its tower portfolio to extract optimal value from its infrastructure and create more value for customers and shareholders.
At that time, Ooredoo stated that its tower portfolio comprised about 20,000 towers spread across the countries where it operates.
The company, which generated revenues of 23 billion Qatari riyals ($6.32 billion) as of Dec. 31, 2022, added in its statement last year that it would explore strategic options that would unlock significant capital and maximize value for shareholders.
Meanwhile, Zain Saudi Arabia last year also moved to sell 8,069 towers to the Kingdom’s sovereign Public Investment Fund for about $800 million.
Saudi Telecom also spun off its 15,000-plus towers into a subsidiary called Tawal in 2019.
