Zain Group has hired an Iraqi investment bank to lead the initial public offering (IPO) of its Zain Iraq subsidiary. Saif Altimen, head of investor relations at the cellco, commented: ‘We chose to appoint Melak Iraq and Rabee Securities as the leading adviser and broker because of their track record and because we need on-the-ground advisory and support in Iraq’. The long-delayed IPO is now expected to take place as early as next month.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database in June 2013, in preparation for its IPO, Zain confirmed that it was in the process of setting up a holding company, named Al-Khatem Communications, which would offer 55.9 million shares priced at IQD1 (USD0.00085) each. The only Iraqi mobile to have successfully staged an IPO to date is Ooredoo-backed Asiacell, which did so in February 2013. The fully-subscribed USD1.27 billion share sale was said to represent Iraq’s largest ever flotation.