Veon has put in a mandatory tender offer for a full takeover of Global Telecom Holding (GTH).
A statement from the Amsterdam-headquartered group confirmed that it had submitted a bid to acquire a 42.3% stake in GTH at EGP5.30 ($0.30) per share. This is 45.8% higher than GTH’s average three month share price up to 7th February, valuing the total stake at approximately $600 million.
Last week, Veon informed the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) of its intent to submit the MTO within 60 days. The operator confirmed that its MTO is now under review by the FRA, with approval pending.
Veon already owns a 55.6% stake in GTH, and abandoned a similar bid for the remainder of the group in April last year after meeting some resistance from Egyptian authorities. It cited the “lapse of time and absence of approval” as the factors behind its decision, and confirmed that it would not make another offer “at this time”.
GTH has operations spanning several markets, including Algeria’s Djezzy, Bangladesh’s Banglalink and Pakistan’s Mobilink.
