Abu Dhabi: Etisalat on Monday sadi it paid $75 million (Dh276 million) to complete the acquisition of Atlantique Telecom, a company with majority ownership of operators in seven West African countries.
Etisalat has been steadily increasing its share in Atlantique since acquiring a 50 per cent stake in the company in 2005 along with management rights for 10 years. The latest purchase gave the UAE operator the remaining 18 per cent of shares in Atlantique, which operates in countries including Ivory Coast, Gabon and Niger. The company has not disclosed the values of previous acquisitions.
The announcement comes on the same day the company reported filing an application with Indian authorities to raise its stake in its Indian subsidiary Etisalat DB from 45 per cent to 50 per cent.
Etisalat has looked to international expansion as a means of diversifying its revenues, 90 per cent of which are accounted for by the increasingly saturated UAE market. The company has said it aims for international revenues to eventually make up half its income.
On Sunday, the company reported annual profit rose by 4 per cent in 2009 to Dh8.8 billion on the back of an addition of 464,000 UAE mobile subscribers during the year.
