Omantel buys 60% stake in Pakistan's WorldCall

Muscat: Dr Mohammad Bin Ali Al Wohaibi, chief executive officer of Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) is upbeat about acquiring 60 per cent stake in Pakistani telecommunication firm WorldCall from majority stakeholders for around $193 million.

"We are not worried about the political situation in Pakistan," Dr Al Wohaibi told a news conference here yesterday at the Omantel headquarters in Al Khuwair district of Muscat.

He agreed that the process was delayed because of the elections in Pakistan and the political situation in that country. "We did look at the situation and that caused some delay in completing the transaction," he said.

He said the stock market, however, has reacted positively to the result trend on Tuesday. "There has also been positive impact on WorldCall stock prices on Karachi Securities Market after the deal was inked on Monday evening," he said.

Dr Al Wohaibi expressed hopes that the political situation in Pakistan would become better and stable after the elections.

Market reaction

The Omantel chief said that since the talk about the deal was going on in Oman for some time there was not much impact on the Omantel stock price at the Muscat Securities Market. "It was just a matter of signing the deal as far Omantel shareholders were concerned."

He said the deal was subject to approvals from regulatory authorities in Pakistan.

He added that the majority state-owned Omantel is also planning to buy another five per cent stake in Worldcall from Pakistani bourse. The transaction includes 70.65 per cent interest in Worldcall Telecom's subsidiary in Sri Lanka.

He said that Omantel intends to fund the acquisition through long-term debt facilities and was in negotiations with a bank to underwrite the loan. Omantel acquired 488.8 million shares in WorldCall Telecom from majority stakeholders and other related parties.

"This deal is undoubtedly the most significant for Omantel since it is the first international acquisition for us. This investment represents an important step for Omantel's international expansion strategy into South Asia. The Pakistani market is one of the largest and fastest growing telecom markets in the region," he said.