Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has received the approval of the Kuwaiti Capital Markets Authority (CMA) for the buyout of 74% of Kuwait Telecom Company’s (Viva’s) total outstanding shares at a price of KWD1 (USD3.3) per share. The cost of purchase will be funded by self-financing, with STC disclosing that the offer period will run from 27 December 2015 until 31 January 2016.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Viva is owned by STC (26%), the Government of Kuwait (24%) and the Kuwaiti public (50%). In December 2011 STC announced that it was set to list Viva’s shares on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE). National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) Capital was selected to manage the listing, which took place on 14 December 2014, with a total of 499.4 million shares offered to domestic investors. Viva previously staged an initial public offering (IPO) in July 2008, going on to raise KWD25 million in a sale open to Kuwaiti nationals only.