Mobile telecom company Zain KSA transferred the ownership of its subsidiary Zain Business Limited to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), a statement showed Sunday, ahead of the sale of the company's tower infrastructure.
PIF changed the unit's name to the Golden Lattice Investment Company (GLI), a bourse filing noted. GLI will become the holding company in charge of the sale of Zain KSA's towers infrastructure units.
The sale of 8,069 telecom tower assets to a PIF-led consortium was approved in February, with the deal valued at $805.4 million (SAR 3.026 billion). As part of the asset purchase agreement, Zain Saudi will receive a cash amount of $644.3 million (SAR 2.4 billion) and a 20% stake in GLI.
Under the agreement, the transfer of sites will be in batches. All the units need to be transferred to GLI within 18 months from the financial completion, by which time at least 3,000 sites should already be transferred over.
Zain KSA noted that under the shareholders’ agreement, PIF will own a 60% stake in GLI, Prince Saud bin Fahad to hold a 10% stake, and Sultan Holding Company a 10% stake.
Zain KSA's shares jumped 3.22% to trade at $3.31 (SAR 12.82) as of 1:50 PM GST time, following the announcement.
Big number The transaction will result in a gain of up to $292.8 million (SAR 1.1 billion) from the transfer of the 8,069 towers over the following 18 months to the financial closing, th bourse filling said.
