Kuwait’s Zain ups stake in UAE’s telco tower company

Kuwaiti telco Zain Group has increased its share in the UAE-based TASC Towers from 83.47 percent to 92.87 percent.

The company will continue to operate independently with a board of non-Zain majority members, Zain Group vice-chairman and CEO Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi said in a statement to Boursa Kuwait.

“Given the nature of Zain’s shareholding and the independent operating model, TASC Towers will remain an associate company of Zain Group,” he said.

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The disclosure will not impact the company’s financial position.

In July, Qatar’s Ooredoo, Zain Group and UAE’s TASC Towers Holding started talks to create one of the largest telecommunications tower companies in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).

The discussions seek to combine their 30,000 telecommunication tower assets in Qatar, Kuwait, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq and Jordan into a jointly owned independent tower firm in a cash and share deal, the companies said in a joint statement.

Saudi-listed Mobile Telecommunication Company Saudi Arabia last year sold 8,069 towers to the kingdom’s sovereign Public Investment Fund for about $800 million. It sold 1,620 telecom towers to IHS Holding for $130 million in 2020.

Omantel sold 2,890 towers to Helios Towers for $575 million in 2021.