Zain Saudi mulls sale of towers to consortium

Mobile Telecommunication Co. Saudi Arabia’s (Zain Saudi) board of directors is exploring the sale of its passive tower infrastructure to a consortium comprising of TASC SAL and the Arabian Company for Water and Power Development (ACWA Holding), it said in a statement on Tadawul on Thursday.

There is no binding agreement and no certainty that discussions with TASC SAL and ACWA Holding will lead to a transaction, it added.

In addition, any transaction would need to be approved by the Saudi regulatory authorities and related parties, Zain Saudi said.

In March, the company’s chief executive said Zain was considering joint ownership or a sale of its 7,500 mobile transmitter towers to cut operating expenses and repay debts, Argaam earlier reported.

Kuwait-based Zain Group’s chief executive Scott Gegenheimer said his company expected to sell its transmitter towers in Saudi Arabia for over $500 million (SAR 1.88 billion) in the first half of 2017.