Kuwaiti telco Zain said Bahrain Telecom and Kingdom Holding would have to guarantee part of Zain Saudi's debt and infuse more money to buy 25 percent of the Saudi operator. Zain said on Tuesday that the consortium led by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding and Batelco would pay $1.2 billion for the stake and guarantee $961 million of Zain Saudi debt owed to Zain, terms starkly different from that laid out by the consortium a day earlier.
On Monday, Kingdom Holding said Zain's board had approved a $950 million offer for its Saudi assets, removing a regulatory hurdle for the Kuwaiti telco's $12 billion stake sale to UAE's Etisalat. "The majority of the board gave an initial approval to the offer under conditions put by Zain, most important of which is taking over of direct guarantees from Zain group to Zain Saudi, worth about $961 million," Zain said in a statement to the bourse.
Kingdom and Batelco would also have to pump additional funds into Zain Saudi, the statement said, which has a $3.8 billion debt pile. Zain must sell its quarter stake in Zain Saudi as part of a regulatory requirement to avoid an overlap with Etisalat, which also operates in the kingdom through affiliate Mobily.