Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Saudi PIF to consider bidding for Ooredoo’s tower unit

By Pramod Kumar
The Ooredoo board will recommend a cash dividend of QAR0.55 per share at the annual general meeting in March Creative Commons
The Ooredoo board will recommend a cash dividend of QAR0.55 per share at the annual general meeting in March

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is weighing submitting the final bid for Qatari telecommunications firm Ooredoo’s network towers, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.

American Tower Corporation, IHS Holding Limited and Helios Towers Plc are contemplating offers for all or part of the portfolio.

Ooredoo’s tower assets, located in the Gulf and other markets, including Iraq and Algeria, may be valued at $3 billion to $5 billion.

The sources stated that bids are due in the coming days, adding that talks are ongoing.

Ooredoo announced in September plans to sell nearly 20,000 towers as part of a shift to an asset-light model. The state-owned telecom major recently sold its Myanmar business for an enterprise value of $576 million.

Gulf region carriers have also been divesting from tower assets to reduce infrastructure costs and focus on information and communications technology, with such deals attracting specialised tower operators.

Omantel sold 2,890 towers to Helios Towers for $575 million in 2021, Saudi Telecom spun off its 15,000-plus towers into a subsidiary called Tawal in 2019 and Zain sold 1,620 telecoms towers to IHS Holding for $130 million in 2020.

Latest articles

STC wants to consolidate the mobile tower market

STC approves PIF purchase of telecom company

Shareholders of Saudi telecom giant STC have approved plans to create a new telecommunications infrastructure company in which the Public Investment Fund will have a 51 percent stake valued at SAR8.7 billion ($2.3 billion).  Under the deal, the STC-owned Telecommunication Towers Co. Limited (Tawal) will become a PIF subsidiary through a merger with Golden Lattice […]

Flavio Cattaneo of Enel, of which Endesa is a subsidiary, and Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi at the signing of the deal

Masdar buys stake in Spanish utilities company Endesa

The UAE’s state-owned clean energy company Masdar has agreed to acquire a minority stake in Spanish electric utility business Endesa to partner for 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy assets in Spain. Under the agreement, subject to regulatory approval, Masdar will invest nearly $890 million to acquire a 49.99 percent stake in Endesa, with an […]

UAE markets Hong Kong

UAE capital markets partner with Hong Kong exchange

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) has added the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) to its roster of recognised marketplaces. The move opens the door for UAE-based companies to pursue secondary listings on one of Asia’s premier financial markets. It also follows the inclusion of the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) […]

Person, Worker, Adult

Aramco and PIF invest in Saudi-Chinese steel venture

Saudi Aramco and the Public Investment Fund have doubled their investment in a steel plate joint venture with a Chinese company to $500 million. The two Saudi companies each own 25 percent shares in the new venture in Ras Al Khair industrial city, Bloomberg reported, quoting a statement published on the Chinese stock exchange. Chinese […]