Saudi Telecom Company (STC) is looking to assume full control of Kuwaiti number two Viva with an acquisition of the 74% stake that it doesn’t yet own.
Viva has been listed on the Kuwaiti stock exchange since December 2014. STC, which currently holds a 26% stake in Viva, has presented a voluntary document offer to the country’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) – if this is approved then the Saudi incumbent will make an offer for all of Viva’s issued shares that it does not yet hold.
Details of the offer will not be disclosed until the CMA has granted approval, although STC has stated that it will use its own resources to finance the offer.
Founded in 2008 as a joint-stock company, Viva is Kuwait’s second biggest operator with 2.4 million connections at the end of Q3, having surpassed Ooredoo earlier this year in the hotly-contested market. Viva’s revenue for the past 3 quarters was up 17% on the same period last year to KWD 204 million ($671 million), with net profit for this period increasing 12% to KWD 33 million.
