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Announcement comes just months after telco denied Umniah sale talks with Ooredoo, Etisalat.

Batelco this week revealed that it has received a number of takeover offers for its Umniah mobile operation in Jordan.

The Bahrain-based telco group said it recently carried out a detailed review of Umniah, in conjunction with its financial advisor and decided to launch a private sale process for the asset.

"Non-binding offers from potential interested parties were received on Monday 18 January," Batelco said in a statement to the Bahrain bourse on Wednesday.

"Over the coming period, together with our advisors, we will evaluate the offers received and update the market in due course," the operator added.

Batelco disclosed in October last year that it had hired a financial advisor to help it assess its options with regard to Umniah. That announcement came in response to media speculation about a sale of the business.

"Batelco confirms to its shareholders and the market, in relation to the recent published news articles, that it is not in any current discussions with Ooredoo, Etisalat, or any other party regarding a sale of Umniah and has not to date received any offers from any of them regarding such a sale," it insisted at the time.

This week’s statement did not include any hint of the identities of the bidders who have since come forward for Umniah.

Umniah is one of three main mobile network operators in Jordan, the other two being Zain and Orange. The market also hosts a number of MVNOs.

According to BuddeComm, Jordan was home to 11.5 million mobile subscriptions in 2015.

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