Etisalat has completed the acquisition of Vivendi's 53 per cent stake in Maroc Telecom for a final price of €4.138 billion ($5.67 billion), ending a total sales process that has lasted over a year.
Both the United Arab Emirates-based operator and Vivendi confirmed the sale in separate statements.
"I welcome the recent agreement with Etisalat allowing Maroc Telecom to deploy its activities in nine African countries. With Etisalat its new shareholder, Maroc Telecom will be fully equipped to also take new steps towards growth," said Jean-René Fourtou, chairman of Vivendi's supervisory board and vice-chairman of Maroc Telecom's supervisory board.
Earlier in May, Etisalat agreed to sell its stakes in its French-speaking West Africa operations to Maroc Telecom for $650 million (€473 million) in order to consolidate control of the West Africa operations and benefit from Maroc Telecom's experience in this market.
Etisalat said it will start to consolidate Maroc Telecom and its subsidiaries from May 2014. Under stockmarket regulations in Morocco, Etisalat is also obliged to file a tender offer to acquire the remaining shares in the Moroccan operator as it owns more than 40 per cent of the share capital. It said it will make an initial filing of the tender offer documentation with the Moroccan Capital Market Authority within the prescribed time period.
For Vivendi, the closing of the deal means that the French group is coming closer to its goal of offloading its telecoms assets in order to focus on its media business. "With the sale of SFR, the group will complete its transformation and be in a strong position to evolve into new areas," the company said.
Vivendi recently agreed to sell SFR to Altice and Numericable, which plan to form a mobile and fixed powerhouse in the French market.
For more:
- see this Etisalat statement
- see this Vivendi statement
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