Caisse de Dept et de Gestion (CDG), a Moroccan state-owned investment vehicle, may be poised to support Etisalat’s bid for Vivendi’s 53 per cent stake in operator Maroc Telecom.
Vivendi has been inviting bids for its stake since early this year, with Etisalat already seeing off rival interest for the stake from Qatari Ooredoo.
HumanIPO reported last week the Moroccan government, which still holds a 30 per cent share in Maroc, wanted any successful takeover to include a local partner to ensure further investment in the network and Reuters is now reporting CDG are open to collaboration.
Anas Alami, CDG chief, said: “The law allows us to take up to 10 per cent of Maroc Telecom, which it is already a lot for us.”
Another source from CDG reportedly said they could take up around 5 or 6 per cent of Maroc Telecom.
CDG is prevented from taking more than 10 per cent because it already controls 30 per cent of the country’s second operator Meditel.
Although any takeover from Etisalat would trigger an automatic offer to all minority stakeholders, Morocco’s finance minister Nizar Baraka told Reuters the government was interested in selling its stake.
As well as being the primary operator in Morocco, Maroc also does business in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali and Mauritania.
Any deal for the 53 per cent stake is expected to be worth around US$6 billion.
