HumanIPO reported in January that Etisalat had identified the 53 percent stake, up for sale by multinational media group Vivendi, as one which would “complement our existing operations in Sub-Saharan Africa”.
Qatar’s QTel and South Korean KT Corp are thought to be rival bidders, while Saudi Arabia’s STC and South Africa’s MTN have also been linked, but a Reuters report suggests the shares, worth around US$6 billion, could be on the way to Etisalat.
The news agency claims “banking sources” said the United Arab Emirates company was talking to banks about syndication of a US$8 billion loan to finance the transaction.
Maroc is believed to have 17 million mobile customers in Morocco, a 47.5 percent share of the mobile market and a 44 percent share of the high-speed Internet market in the country.
The company also has majority stakes in Gabon Telecom, Mauritania’s MaurieTel, Burkina Faso’s Onatel and Mali’s Sotelma.
