Batelco, Kingdom sign term sheet with Zain Saudi

Batelco, Kingdom sign term sheet with Zain Saudi

Batelco, Kingdom sign term sheet with Zain Saudi to buy quarter-stake; Follows similar agreement with seller Kuwait's Zain in April.

July 20, 2011 10:28 by Reuters

Bahrain Telecommunications (Batelco) and Kingdom Holding have signed a non-binding term sheet with Zain Saudi as part of their $950 million purchase of a quarter-stake in the operator, the bidders said on Wednesday.

The term sheet follows a similar agreement between Batelco, Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom and the seller of the stake, Kuwait’s Zain , which was signed in April.

On July 13, Batelco’s chief executive Peter Kaliaropoulos told Reuters he expects the deal, which was initially agreed in March, to be completed within eight weeks.

Zain Saudi on Sunday reported a second-quarter net loss of 448 million Saudi riyals, compared with a net loss of 632 million riyals a year earlier.

The operator, which launched services in 2008, had a 16 percent share of Saudi Arabia’s mobile subscribers at the end of 2010, leaving it a distant third to rival carriers Saudi Telecom Co and Etihad Etisalat (Mobily). (Reporting by Matt Smith; Editing by Shaheen Pasha)