ABU DHABI: The Etisalat Group today announced that it has completed the sale of its French-speaking West African Operations to Maroc Telecom. The announcement comes as part of the acquisition of a 53-percent shareholding in Maroc Telecom that took place in May 2014.
As part of this sale, Emirates Telecommunications Corporation Etisalat, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Atlantique Telecom SA, AT, and Etisalat International Benin Limited, EIBL, successfully completed the sale of Etisalat’s shareholdings in its operations in Benin, the Central African Republic, Gabon, the Ivory Coast, Niger and Togo to Itissalat Al Maghrib, Maroc Telecom.
These operations provide both mobile voice and data services and operate under the Moov brand. The sale also includes Prestige Telecom, established in Ivory Coast, providing IT services to these same operations.
The final consideration in return for Etisalat’s equity and receivables, including shareholder loans, from these seven companies amounts to Euro 474 million.
The combination of Maroc Telecom’s existing West African assets with Etisalat’s Atlantique Telecom assets will result in the creation of a strong French speaking West African offering that will benefit from critical scale. This transaction will enable Etisalat to significantly strengthen its position in Africa via Maroc Telecom.
