Almarai dairy company, a founding shareholder in Zain Saudi, will likely take a $36 million impairment on its stake in the telecoms carrier at the end of 2011 if the shares remain stuck near current levels, the company's chief financial officer said Wednesday. Almarai was one of nine founding shareholders in Zain Saudi and owns a 2.5 percent stake initially valued at SR350 million ($93 million). The operator launched services in 2008, competing against Saudi Telecom Co. and Etihad Etisalat (Mobily). “If the share price of Zain Saudi will stay at the level it's at currently or lower by year-end, we will then propose an impairment of the assets,” Paul-Louis Gay, Almarai chief financial officer. Based on Zain Saudi's share price on Sept. 30, Gay said the impairment would likely be SR136 million ($36.3 million), but since then the shares have fallen further, from SR6.25 to SR5.7, a seven-month low. With the firm's proposed capital restructuring, analysts see little scope for a rebound. The restructuring was announced in August 2010 but was delayed following ultimately unsuccessful bids for stakes in Zain Saudi and its Kuwaiti parent Zain. Zain Saudi wants to cut its capital by 55 percent to SR6.27 billion and then issue SR4.4 billion of new shares. The operator has yet to make a quarterly profit and has about SR9.2 billion in accumulated losses, or 66 percent of its paid-up capital. Bourse rules say listed firms must cut their capital if losses exceed 75 percent to cancel some of these losses. Almarai has also lent SR109.6 million to Zain Saudi, according to the latter's first
