Zain Saudi in talks to sell mobile towers to TASC and ACWA

Zain Saudi is in talks to sell its mobile transmitter towers to a consortium comprised of TASC SAL and ACWA Holding, Saudi Arabia’s number 3 telecoms firm by revenue said in a bourse statement on Thursday.

The company, 37 per cent-owned by Kuwait’s Zain Group, has been exploring the sale of its towers since as early as January 2015.

Zain Saudi said there was no binding agreement or certainty discussions would lead to a transaction and that regulatory approval would be required for any deal.

Zain Group expects to sell its Saudi transmitter towers for over $500m in the first half of 2017, Chief Executive Scott Gegenheimer told Reuters on November 9.

Zain Saudi, which has not made a quarterly profit since it started operations in 2008, plans to use the proceeds of the sale of part or all of its 7,776 towers to pay down its debt and for data-focused investments, Gegenheimer said.

Zain Saudi competitors Saudi Telecom Co (STC) and Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) are also studying whether to sell or merge their towers to cut costs.