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Zain Eyes 4 Billion Dollars Acquisitions in Sierra Leone

17th Nov. '06

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Zain mobile network, Saad al-Barrak has told the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit held recently in Kuwait and Dubai that his company plans to make four to five acquisitions worth up to $4 billion before 2010 with the global credit crisis depressing asset prices for telecom firms. "Zain would seek to expand in Africa and the Middle East by buying majority stakes in companies or acquiring licences," he stated, while noting that Zain, which is the third largest Arab telecoms firm operating in 22 countries, is looking at opportunities in South Africa, Rwanda, Cote D'Ivoire, Mali, Mozambique, Yemen, Syria and Zimbabwe.

He pointed out that it is in view of the current situation that Zain have three to four billion dollars in mind over the next twelve months, adding that they could even spend more as the company is keen to enter the rest of the Middle East where it is not active yet. "Zain would seek to buy 60 percent of its acquisition targets, but at least 51 percent, and would also consider moves into Asia from 2011 as part of plans to become one of the top 10 telecom operators in the world," Barrak divulged.

Zain CEO further stated thus: "we are focusing now on our priority in the Middle East and Africa, where we want to become the absolute number one. Zain also planned to spend $2.5 billion in 2009 on general capital expenditures such as upgrading networks or investing, down from $3 billion this year''.

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