Zain to expand in emerging mkts if Etisalat deal fails

Zain, Kuwait’s biggest phone operator, will look to expand in emerging markets if a planned deal to sell a 46 per cent stake to Emirates Telecommunications Corp falls through, Chief Operating Officer Barrak al-Sabeeh said.

“As of now, because of the non-clarity of the Etisalat deal, we should just keep our focus on what we have,” al-Sabeeh said in an interview yesterday at Zain’s headquarters in Kuwait. “Once things are clear, definitely we will look into good opportunities to expand.”

Emirates Telecom, known as Etisalat, will continue talks with Zain shareholders on its $12 billion offer for control of Zain after it missed a deadline because of “unforeseeable delays” to complete the diligence process, the Abu-Dhabi based company said on January 15.

Etisalat, the United Arab Emirates’s biggest phone carrier, is aiming to expand its presence in the Middle East, where Zain operates in countries from Kuwait and Iraq to Bahrain. Zain sold most of its African assets last year to Indian billionaire Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel Ltd for $9 billion.

“The way going forward is to expand,” al-Sabeeh said. “Most of the operations we have are saturated. So you should look into emerging markets or new licenses in some of the tempting markets, such as the Far East, Indian subcontinent, East Europe, Lebanon.”

Zain, as Mobile Telecommunications Co is known, would rather acquire an existing operator than “a green-field licence,” al-Sabeeh said.