The largest private investor in Kuwait's leading mobile operator Zain Thursday welcomed an offer by by the UAE's Etisalat to buy a 46 percent stake in the company for $10.5 billion, though the UAE company said the deal is valued at roughly $12 billion. “We are pleased with offered price because it is good and suitable for both sides,” Nasser al-Khorafi chairman of the Khorafi Group, the biggest shareholders in Zain, told Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper. The Abu Dhabi-based company said Thursday it had offered 1.7 Kuwaiti dinars per share ($5.99) for Zain. The firm's major shareholders include the country's sovereign wealth fund and conglomerate Kharafi Group. Etisalat said “no final agreement has been reached at this point in time as this offer depends on the fulfillment of specific requirements and conditions that must be met to finalize the deal.” Khorafi Group, Kuwait's wealthiest family, has a direct ownership of 12.7 percent of Zain but its share is believed to be more than 20 percent if indirect stakes are taken into account. Khorafi confirmed that his group has received an offer from Etisalat, the region's second largest telecom firm, to buy a controlling stake of 46 percent in Zain. The 46 percent is a controlling stake in Zain since 10 percent of its equity are in treasury shares which do not have voting power. Etisalat confirmed on Wednesday it had submitted a preliminary conditional offer to buy a stake in Zain, but said concluding the deal depends on the fulfillment of certain requirements and conditions. Zain management told the Kuwait Stock Exchange on Wednesday that it had not received any offer. The bid had in fact been made to leading investors. In March, Zain sold its operations in 15 African nations to India's Bharti Airtel for 10.7 billion dollars, netting a profit of more than three billion dollars from the deal. Besides Kuwait, Zain operates in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and Morocco. The Kuwaiti government holds a 24.6 percent stake in the firm, which currently has more than 30 million clients.
