Dubai: Close on the heels of a strategic alliance with UK’s Vodafone, UAE tech-telco e& confirmed it is exploring possibilities for a partnership with the PPF Group, the Czech company with interests in financial services and telecom.
If the partnership takes hold, e& and PPF will ‘explore strategic collaboration opportunities’ in central and south-eastern Europe (excluding the Czech Republic), according to a statement from e&.
Under its new avatar, e& (formerly Etisalat Group) is casting a wider net of investment and growth possibilities. A presence in Europe does represent those opportunities, especially when done in tandem with strong partners.
In its deal with Vodafone, the UAE company had clearly specified the geographies that would be of interest. e& incidentally is the biggest shareholder in Vodafone, having incrementally added to its stake since May 2022. According to analysts, there are expansion/consolidation opportunities coming into play across Europe.
Outside of its home market, the PPF Group has operations in 25 countries across Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. Core lines of business are in financial services, telecom, media and ecommerce.
e& - which has been on an investment spree in recent months cutting across categories - is expected to announce another strong set of financials for first-half 2023 in the coming weeks.
