Zain Iraq will make is stock market debut later this month, fulfilling the obligation imposed upon it under the terms of its operating licence.
The telco’s shares will start trading on 23 June, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a statement from the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX).
Zain got the go-ahead for the flotation from the Iraq Securities Commission in April and last month confirmed that it was making all the necessary preparations to ensure the listing could take place before the end of the year.
Zain, then known as MTC, was one of three operators to be awarded mobile licences in Iraq in August 2007. The $1.25 billion licences required each operator to list 25% of their shares within four years, but none of the three made the deadline and have had fines levied against them as a result.
Ooredoo was the first to take the plunge with a February 2013 IPO that raised 1.49 billion Qatari riyals (US$1.27 billion). The market’s smallest player Korek Telecom has yet to make a listing announcement.
Zain’s flotation will occur via its parent company Al Khatem, a joint stock company that it created in 2013.
