“Big differences” have forced South Korean telecommunications company KT Corp to drop out of the bidding Vivendi’s 53 per cent stake in Maroc Telecom.
Maroc Telecom, 30 per cent owned by the Moroccan government, is the country’s largest mobile operator, but also owns assets in Mali, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Mauritania.
Regarding KT’s interest in Maroc, a spokesperson for the South Korean company told Bloomberg: “There were big differences between Maroc’s market price, the seller’s offered price and the price we estimated as appropriate.”
As well as reported interest in the Vivendi stake from Qatar Telecom, HumanIPO reported in February United Arab Emirates-based Etisalat, which already has a large presence in Nigeria as well as several other African countries, was pursuing bank loans to make a bid.
Philippe Capron, chief financial officer of French company Vivendi, has previously said they will not do “fire sales” and will wait for the right offer.
