Meditel Looking to Float 25% by Year-End

­Moroccan telecoms operator, Meditel is planning to float at least a quarter of its shares on the local stock exchange before the end of this year, local newspapers reported. The sale would be to institutional investors and is not expected to be a general retail floatation.

Citing the Akhbar Alyoum newspaper, the Reuters news agency reported that the plans to float the company on the  Casablanca bourse will be passed to the CDVM watchdog within the next few weeks for approval. The newspaper was citing unnamed sources at the FinanceCom group, which is the co-owner of the company.

The state fund CDG and FinanceCom jointly brought Meditel stakes from Portugal Telecom and Telefonica earlier this month.

Etisalat, Batelco and Orascom Telecom have been named as possible investors during the floatation.

A recent report from Pyramid Research said that it expects the introduction of new investors will boost Meditel's already strong performance on the mobile side and a continued focus on the corporate segment on the fixed side.

"Meditel's revenue will reach US$1.1 billion by 2014, from US$710 million in 2009; in order to deal with the increasing pressure, Maroc Telecom focused its efforts on high ARPS and business subscribers by introducing very competitive international calling rates and prepaid bundles," said Badii Kechiche, analyst at Pyramid Research and author of the report.

On the web: Reuters

Posted to the site on 28th September 2009