Saudi Telecom Company is seeking regulatory permission to make an offer to buy all the shares in Kuwaiti mobile operator Viva that it does not already own.
In a stock exchange statement posted on Thursday, the Saudi Arabian operator said it has submitted a voluntary offer document for approval by the Kuwait Capital Markets Authority (CMA) that could lead to it making an offer for 74% of Viva’s issued shares.
Saudi Telecom already holds a 26% stake in the operator. It said it will supply more details about its proposed offer once it gets the green light from the CMA.
The announcement comes as something of a surprise, given that Viva was listed on the Kuwait stock exchange as recently as December 2014.
The company posted revenues of 204 million Kuwaiti dinars (€628 million) in the nine months to the end of September, an increase of 17% year-on-year, Saudi Telecom said.
Its net profit for the period grew by 12% to KWD33 million (€102 million).
