Zain Iraq faces "a big challenge" to meet an August deadline to launch an initial public offering and may end up floating less than a regulator-mandated 25-percent stake, its chief executive said. The operator, a unit of Kuwait's Zain , must become a listed joint stock company by the end of August.
Under the terms of licences issued in 2007, Zain Iraq and rival operators Asiacell, an affiliate of Qatar Telecom (Qtel), and Korek - part-owned by France Telecom - must sell 25 percent of their shares and list on the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) by August-end.