As per reports, the Qatar Investment Authority and the Egyptian government are in the last stages of negotiations for the Qatar Investment Authority to buy stakes in a number of companies, including the market-leading mobile provider Vodafone Egypt, for about USD $2.5 billion. The proposal, as per Daily News Egypt, will see QIA acquire a 20% share in Vodafone Egypt and is anticipated to be finalised by the end of 2022. As per Bloomberg, the QIA, which is Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, is in charge of assets worth about US$445 billion.
45% of Vodafone Egypt Is Owned by the Egyptian Government
On Wednesday, October 19, Telecom Egypt said in a report to the stock exchange that it had not received any official offers regarding the sale of Vodafone Egypt shares. Through the state-run company Telecom Egypt, which acquired the holding in 2017, the Egyptian government controls a 45% share in Vodafone Egypt. The remaining 55% of Vodafone Egypt is owned by the UK-based Vodafone Group, while it is now negotiating a $2.7 billion sale to its Vodacom Group affiliate in South Africa. The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Egypt, which purportedly gave its clearance last month, as well as the Financial Supervision Department of the Reserve Bank of South Africa, must both approve the agreement. In July, Vodafone CEO Nick Read acknowledged that the process of obtaining approval from national and financial regulators had caused the acquisition to take a little longer than anticipated, but they expressed optimism that the situation would be resolved quickly.
