Bahraini Batelco Remains Interested in African M&A

Bahrain Telecommunications Company said it would be interested in acquiring pieces of Kuwaiti Zain's African assets if their buyer, India's Bharti Airtel, ever decided to break them up.

"We are looking at all opportunities. If there were assets to be sold on by Bharti, we would look at them," Chief Executive Peter Kaliaropoulos said, adding he did not expect Bharti to break up Zain's assets.

Bharti has offered to acquire Zain's African assets for US$9 billion. "If you split up assets, you lose value," Kaliaropoulos said after a meeting at which Batelco shareholders approved an unchanged 2009 dividend of US$0.05.

Batelco has said it plans to make an acquisition worth up to US$2 billion in Africa and India, which it would finance through a mix of debt and equity, and by bringing partners on board. But with its home market of just above one million Batelco is a small player compared with Arab telecom heavyweights Saudi Telecom and the UAE's Etisalat. - Al Watan