Etisalat short-listed for Tunisie Telecom bid

The UAE’s dominant telecoms services provider Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) has been selected as a potential bidder for a 35% stake in Tunisian incumbent Tunisie Telecom, making the cut with twelve other companies from Europe and the Middle East vying for the stake. The short-listed bidders will now participate in an auction that could raise as much as USD1.7 billion for state coffers. The Tunisian Telecommunications Ministry named the other successful participants as Bahrain’s Batelco, Saudi Oger, Saudi Telecom Company, Telefónica of Spain, France Télécom, Telecom Italia, Vivendi Universal, Bouygues Telecom, T-Mobile, Mobile Telephone Networks, Telecom Dig and Portugal Telecom The 13 companies are now cleared to begin due diligence, although final bids might not materialise until next year.