by Larbi Arbaoui
Morocco World News
Taroudant- Oct 8, 2012
According to the Financial Times, the French group Vivendi offers for sale its assets in Maroc Telecom. The same sources added that the Emirates Group and Qatari Etilasat Q.Tel are the potential suitors.
Financial experts said that Maroc Telecom, the first Moroccan operator, was valued last week at more than MAD 44.47 billion (4 billion Euros).
The group Vivendi has initiated discussions with Lazard and Credit Agricole to sell its shares that worth 53 percent of Maroc Telecom’s capital.
Founded in 1998 from the l’Office National des Postes et Télécommunications (ONPT), National Office of Post and Telecommunications, Itissalat AL-Maghrib (IAM), also called Maroc Telecom, is a stock company with nearly 19 million active customers by the end of 2011.
When the Moroccan government decided to open the capital of the company, Vivendi acquired 35 percent stake of the company on February 20, 2001.
On 18 November 2004, the Kingdom and Vivendi signed an agreement for the sale of 16 percent stake of Maroc Telecom. This agreement allowed Vivendi to increase its stake from 35 percent to 51 percent and sustain its takeover.
In December 2007, after an exchange of shares with la Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion du Maroc, Vivendi acquired an additional 2 percent, bringing its stake to 53 percent.
