Al Rajhi Group, Al Zamil said to be second-round bidders for Mobily’s telecom towers

Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily), Saudi Arabia’s second-biggest mobile operator, has selected investors to submit second round bids for its $2 billion telecom towers portfolio, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.

Africa’s largest telecom provider IHS Group Holdings and American private equity firm Providence Equity Partners, as well as the kingdom-based Al Rajhi Group and Al Zamil Group were said to be among the nominated companies.

The bidding process is expected to begin in November, after management changes made at Mobily caused delays.

The Saudi telco is aiming to raise cash with the sale, after it lost more than $9 billion of its market value due to accounting errors discovered last year. Argaam reached out to Mobily, but the company declined to comment on the matter.