Dubai (Reuters) – Kuwaiti telecoms firm Zain Group (ZAIN.KW), Qatar’s Ooredoo (ORDS.QA) and Dubai’s TASC Towers Holding said on Tuesday they had signed definitive agreements to combine their tower assets into a $2.2 billion entity in a cash-and-share deal.
Zain, Ooredoo and TASC in July had announced exclusive talks to create the Middle East and North Africa’s largest tower company, combining about 30,000 tower assets in Qatar, Kuwait, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq and Jordan.
The new entity will have an estimated enterprise value of $2.2 billion through an “asset and cash equalisation process” between Zain and Ooredoo that would give both companies a 49.3% share.
TASC’s founders will retain the rest, the statements said, with the transaction expected to be completed in 2024, subject to all necessary regulatory approvals.
“(This deal) also positions the region as an advanced player in the global telecoms landscape, and we anticipate wide-ranging positive implications for the region – from economic growth and upgraded connectivity to technological improvements and increased global relevance,” executives from the three companies said.
The new tower entity is expected to achieve run-rate revenues close to $500 million annually, an Ooredoo statement added.
Zain said the transaction would have a positive impact on its operational growth but it could not determine the financial impact at this stage.
