Back to the complete issue
Thursday, 23 September 2021

Is Vodafone Egypt back in play?

Is Saudi’s STC making another run at Vodafone Egypt? Saudi Telecom (STC) may be resurrecting its bid to acquire a majority stake in Vodafone Egypt, nine months after talks broke down with its parent company. Banking sources tell CNBC Arabia that the Saudi company is looking to secure a USD 1.1 bn soft loan to help finance the acquisition.

Back from the dead? STC was in talks with Vodafone Plc for most of last year to acquire its 55% stake in its local subsidiary. The Saudi firm initially valued the company at USD 4.4 bn after submitting a USD 2.39 bn non-binding offer for the stake, but later tried to negotiate a lower price after the onset of covid-19. After a series of delays and expired deadlines, Vodafone announced in December that talks had collapsed, but didn’t provide a reason.

CNBC claims that the two companies are back in talks, saying unnamed sources tell it there are “ongoing negotiations.”

Vodafone and Telecom Egypt denied there are talks: A company official told Youm7 that there are no ongoing talks with STC. Telecom Egypt, which owns 45% of Vodafone Egypt, denied knowledge of the news in a statement (pdf).

STC is coming off a successful IPO in Saudi Arabia: STC has just raised almost USD 1 bn after selling 20% of its solutions subsidiary in an IPO on the Tadawul, it announced yesterday.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.