Ooredoo makes bid for stake in Maroc Telecom

Ooredoo (formerly Qatar Telecom) yesterday said it had submitted a binding offer to acquire Vivendi’s 53% shareholding in Morocco-based Maroc Telecom Group.

The offer is fully approved and binding on Ooredoo with immediate effect, an Ooredoo spokesman said. Certainty of funding has been arranged with a consortium of banks, he added.

Ooredoo has reportedly lined up a $12bn loan from a group of 10 banks to support its bid for the stake.

The Moroccan government wants to retain a 30% stake in Maroc, but a bid for Vivendi’s 53% stake could trigger a mandatory bid for the whole company under Moroccan law, a Reuters report said, quoting unnamed sources.

The UAE’s telecom operator, Etisalat, has also said it would submit its bid later yesterday for the same stake.

Vivendi’s stake reportedly has a market value of $5.9bn (€4.5bn).

Etisalat said its offer takes into consideration the outcomes of the “due diligence exercise that was recently completed,” adding that it will be binding “until the end of the second business day following the approval of the Etisalat’s extraordinary general meeting.”