Saudi Telecom to Buy Vodafone Egypt Stake for $2.39 Billion

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Telecom Co. agreed to pay $2.39 billion for Vodafone Group Plc’s Egyptian business as part of an expansion outside its home market.

The cash offer is for Vodafone’s 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt, the country’s largest mobile operator, and gives the North African firm an enterprise value of $4.35 billion, according to a statement from Saudi Telecom. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the companies were in talks.

The deal gives STC, as the Riyadh-based firm is known, access to a country of some 100 million people where Vodafone Egypt has a market share of about 44%. STC still gets more than 90% of revenue from its domestic market. It helps Vodafone further streamline its focus on Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, and cut debt.

Vodafone Egypt shares fell 0.8% at 11:35 in Riyadh, and London-based Vodafone Group dropped 0.2%. State-run Telecom Egypt, which has a 45% stake in Vodafone Egypt, rose 6.2%. STC dropped 0.2%.

“The potential acquisition of Vodafone Egypt is in line with our expansion strategy in the MENA region,” Chief Executive Officer Nasser Sulaiman Al Nasser said in the statement. “Vodafone Egypt is the leading player in the Egyptian mobile market and we look forward to contributing further to its continuing success.”

More than six years ago, STC had tried to acquire Telecom Egypt’s holding in the business. Vodafone Group had also expressed interest in buying the stake it didn’t own. Telecom Egypt said in a statement Wednesday that it was considering “all the possible ways it may deal with its investment.”

Debt Reduction

Vodafone said it will use proceeds from the deal to reduce debt. The potential sale is also “consistent with our efforts to simplify the group to two differentiated, scaled geographic regions -- Europe and sub-Saharan Africa,” Vodafone CEO Nick Read said in a statement.

Vodafone has been retrenching outside Europe and sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade, to raise cash amid leverage concerns and build scale in core markets such as Germany. Vodafone sold its New Zealand business last year, after offloading stakes in U.S. carrier Verizon Communications Inc. in 2013 and Asian operators Softbank Corp. and China Mobile Ltd. in 2010.

Despite these and other moves, including a cut in the dividend and a plan to monetize its tower assets, S&P Global Ratings lowered the company’s credit rating one level to BBB in August, citing concerns about its debt.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says:

“Vodafone’s likely sale to Saudi Arabia Telecom of its 55% stake at Vodafone Egypt at a multiple of 7x Ebitda heralds further portfolio reviews, we believe, given the U.K. company’s focus on core sub-Saharan African and Europe. A possible sale of its Turkish unit at a similar multiple could fetch 2.4 billion euros, assuming 3x leverage. Peers’ multiples, averaging 4x, nevertheless suggest much lower proceeds.”

--Erhan Gurses, telecom analyst

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STC has bought stakes in telecom companies operating in Turkey, Indonesia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Malaysia over the past decade. If a transaction is finalized the companies expect to keep the Vodafone brand.

--With assistance from Tarek El-Tablawy.

To contact the reporters on this story: Abdel Latif Wahba in Cairo at alatifwahba@bloomberg.net;Matthew Martin in Dubai at mmartin128@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew at shajimathew@bloomberg.net, ;Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, Jennifer Ryan, Stefania Bianchi

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