KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait's Zain telecom has rejected three bids by two Saudi investors and Bahrain's Batelco to sell its 25-percent stake in Zain Saudi Arabia, the company said Sunday. And, Al-Khorafi Group, the leading private investor in Zain, said Sunday it will not extend the deadline for Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates to complete its due diligence process for buying a majority stake in the Kuwait-based firm. “Zain board of directors unanimously rejected all the bids to buy the 25 percent stake in Zain Saudi Arabia,” the company said in a statement on the Kuwait Stock Exchange website. The statement did not explain the reason behind the rejection. The sale of the stake in Zain Saudi Arabia is a precondition for selling a majority stake in Zain Group to UAE Etisalat telecom for an estimated $12 billion. The bids were submitted by Kingdom Holding of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Bahrain's Batelco telecom and a Saudi consortium led by Al-Riyadh Group. Kuwait's National Investment Co., the representative of Khorafi in the proposed sale of a majority stake of Zain Group, said in a statement that the deadline for Etisalat to complete its due diligence is the end of this month. “We will not accept to extend the deadline beyond that date,” said the statement posted on the KSE website. The two developments appear to severely dent the chances of the Etisalat-Zain deal going through. Zain is the Kuwaiti market leader with a capitalization of around $20 billion.
