Batelco, Bahrain's leading telecom company, and the Saudi-based Kingdom Holding Company have decided to make a combined bid for a 25 per cent stake in Zain Saudi Arabia, a statement said.

Following preliminary discussions with Batelco Group and a meeting held between the two companies, Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), chaired by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, announced that it agreed with Batelco key terms for Batelco to be the telecom operator in a revised bid to acquire 25 per cent of Zain KSA from Zain Kuwait,  the statement said.

The meeting was attended by Prince Alwaleed; Shaikh Hamad Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Batelco chairman; Peter Kaliaropoulos, group CEO Batelco; and  Eng Ahmed Halawani, executive director, KHC.

Eng. Halawani said: “We are pleased to announce that we reached agreement with Batelco Group to participate in the Kingdom Holding led consortium to acquire 25 per cent of Zain KSA. Today we submitted a revised non-binding offer to Zain Group for its 25 per cent stake of Zain KSA, valid till 9.00 am on march 14, 2011.

'Should our offer meet with acceptance from Zain Group Board of Directors,  Kingdom Holding looks forward to leading the due diligence phase and negotiating the terms and conditions of the final binding agreement between all parties,” he said.

Kaliaropoulos stated: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to jointly bid and support KHC in its efforts to acquire 25 per cent of Zain KSA, as their technical partner. Batelco Group, with extensive regional wireless telecom experience across seven markets, supporting close to 10 million customers, is confident that it will deliver synergies to Zain KSA and accelerate value creation for all the shareholders. We value KHC’s leadership and we look forward to supporting them through an effective technical and business partnership.”

Eng. Halawani further added: “We are pleased with Zain KSA’s growth and accomplishments and we look forward to working with its management under Dr. Saad Al Barrak’s leadership.” - TradeArabia News Service