Dubai Buys Tunisian Operator Stake

Telecom Investments and Dubai Investment Group (DIG), both members of Dubai Holding, have announced the acquisition of a 35% stake in Tunisie Telecom, Tunisia's state telecom carrier. The final purchase price was quoted at US$2.25 billion.

Soud Ba'alawy, CEO of DIG said "Through this partnership, DIG and TECOM look forward to further strategic opportunities to grow the company. We have the right combination of people and expertise that will allow us to explore and evaluate other opportunities in the region".

Meanwhile, the $2.25 billion syndicated loan issued for Dubai Holding for the purchase of 35 per cent of Tunisie Telecom closed more than 100 per cent oversubscribed. Over 40 banks are in the syndicate, with around 50 per cent of lenders coming from the Middle East and the remainder from Asia and Europe. Emirates Bank and Standard Chartered Bank are the mandated lead arrangers.

In March this year, the TECOM-DIG consortium was named the highest bidder for the Tunisie Telecom stake in a bidding process involving twelve other leaders in the telecom industry. A binding Share Purchase Agreement was signed between the parties on 27 April, 2006. The closing of the transaction occurred on 17 July, 2006."

Posted to the site on 20th July 2006