Riyadh – Mubasher: Mobile Telecommunication Company Saudi Arabia’s (Zain) on Wednesday said that its board of directors had approved IHS Holding Limited’s offer to sell and lease back its passive towers infrastructure at a value of SAR 2.43 billion.
Zain approved to sell infrastructure of 8,100 towers and will lease back them for 15 years with a renewal option for five years, according to a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).
The firm further indicated that it will build 1,500 towers in the next six years.
The transaction’s proceeds will be used to implement further expansions and trim a Murabaha loan at a value of SAR 2.43 billion resulting in savings to the debt servicing.
“Under the terms of the transaction, Zain is selling only its passive, physical infrastructure and will retain its intelligent software, technology and intellectual property with respect to managing its network,” the statement added.
The deal will be carried out after obtaining approvals from the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) and the lenders.
Zain last reported a 1500% year-on-year profit surge in the third quarter of 2018 after calculating Zakat and Tax, logging SAR 48 million net profits, up from SAR 3 million.
The telecoms operator turned to losses in the first nine months of this year after suffering SAR 67 million, against a profit of SAR 57 million in the year-ago period.
Zain’s stock levelled up 1.24% to close Tuesday’s trading session at SAR 6.53.
