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Saudi Arabian mobile operator has received a number of offers for its 10,000 telecoms towers, CEO says.
Mobily is reviewing a number of offers for its telecoms towers, it emerged on Monday.
The Saudi Arabian operator has received "certain indicative offers" for its towers business, company CEO Ahmad Farroukh said, in an interview with Bloomberg.
Farroukh said that while Mobily is not looking for a deal at any cost, it is keen to sell its towers since they are non-core and complex to manage, with issues including site visits and rent negotiations.
Transferring the towers to a new joint venture with rival players – as was mooted by Saudi Arabian financial news site Maaal in February – would also require regulatory consent, he said.
The telco’s rivals, Zain and Saudi Telecom, are thinking along the same lines as Mobily, Farroukh said.
Indeed, according to Bloomberg, Zain is also weighing up its options, which include a sale-and-leaseback deal or a joint venture.
The newswire claims Mobily’s 10,000 mobile towers could raise as much as US$2 billion. Its sources have tipped Digital Bridge Holdings as one of the front runners to acquire the business.
