Ooredoo Group and Zain Group to Merge Tower Assets in Six Countries

The three Gulf telecoms companies are considering merging their tower assets in Qatar, Kuwait, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq and Jordan into a jointly owned independent company in a cash and share deal, Ooredoo said in a bourse filing. Ooredoo’s tower network in Oman is following a stand-alone process. The three entities are proceeding with negotiations with a view to signing definitive agreements this quarter. Zain Saudi Arabia sold 8,069 towers to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund Public Investment Fund for about $807m (SAR3.02bn) in February 2022 Omantel, in 2021, sold 2,890 towers to Helios Towers for $575m. The Kuwaiti telecoms giant offloaded 1,620 towers to IHS Holding for $130m in 2020. Zain’s Iraqi unit entered into a definite 15-year agreement to sell and leaseback 4,968 towers to TASC Towers Iraq for $180m. Qatar’s Ooredoo unveiled plans to carve out its portfolio of almost 20,000 towers in September 2022 and the assets are estimated to be valued between $3bn to $5bn.