Etisalat Said to Cut Stake Purchase in Kuwait's Zain to About 40% From 46% - Bloomberg

Emirates Telecommunications Corp. may buy about 40 percent of Kuwait’s Zain, less than earlier planned, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.

The size of the purchase was reduced after a Zain shareholder decided not to sell shares, one of the people said, declining to be identified because the discussions are private. Etisalat, as Emirates Telecommunications is known, had initially planned to buy 46 percent of Zain.

For Etisalat, the United Arab Emirates’s biggest phone carrier, the purchase would extend its reach in the Middle East, where Zain operates in countries from Kuwait and Iraq to Bahrain. Etisalat offers phone services in 18 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, counting more than 100 million customers, according to its website. The seven emirates comprising the UAE make up about 86 percent of Etisalat’s sales.