Kuwait Telecommunications Company (stc), a world-class digital leader providing innovative services and platforms to customers, enabling the digital transformation in Kuwait, announced its acquisition of the entire share capital of e-portal Holding Company and its subsidiaries, which specialize in the Information and Communications Technology sector in the State of Kuwait and amongst the most prominent companies in the ICT field, with a reputable position and a value-added customer base from both the private and government sectors. stc is pleased to announce that the acquisition process was successfully completed after obtaining the required approvals by the regulatory authorities, whereby the deal was completed on 6th April 2022.
stc initiated the acquisition process of e-portal driven by its corporate strategy of expanding its activities with a focus on the digital as well as advanced integrated communications solutions and advanced technical solutions services. From the beginning, stc was keen to hire prominent investment companies to identify the potential investment opportunities in Kuwait and determining the most appropriate target in line with stc’s corporate strategy and in consistent with the Board of Directors’ and executive management’s outlook to enrich the customer experience and create value for shareholders. This was followed by hiring eminent legal, financial and tax advisory firms to perform the necessary due diligence analyses and execute the deal in accordance with the best global practices and in the most efficient manner.
On this occasion, Engineer Maziad Bin Nasser Alharbi, the Chief Executive Officer of stc, stated: “The acquisition of e-portal is a key step for stc to enhance its digital capabilities further through owning a specialized arm in the ICT, IOT and Cloud Services aimed at offering business solutions to the enterprise segment in Kuwait. The expansion of stc’s activities beyond the traditional telecommunication services would increase company’s market share in the ICT market in Kuwait. Through e-portal’s ample capabilities, stc strives to offer its enterprise customers with the most advanced and up-to-date ICT and digital services. This acquisition is also expected to result in greater efficiencies through strengthening stc’s internal capabilities in line with the recent rapid global developments to offer an integral opportunity for both companies to expand their scope of work and share expertise between their teams. Given the potential growth opportunities arising in the enterprise sector, stc aims to leverage e-portal’s capabilities to support the digital transformation process in Kuwait in addition to providing the best services, products and solutions that shall exceed our enterprise customer’s expectations and aspirations”.
Alharbi added: “stc is currently in the process of designing an effective operating model aimed at expanding its services to enrich its ICT portfolio which will be provided to the corporate customers by each of stc’s subsidiaries in the state of Kuwait. Both of our clients, individuals and enterprises, will continue to receive the same high quality of products and services in line with the recent digital advances in the region. I would also like to shed the light on the importance of this transaction in enabling stc to excel in the field of the integrated communications and advanced technical solutions”.
Alharbi concluded: “stc would like to extend its gratitude and appreciation to all parties who contributed to the success of this significant achievement, mainly stc’s Board of Directors, e-portal’s Board of Directors, stc’s executive management, e-portal’s executive management, the Competition Protection Authority in Kuwait, Boursa Kuwait, the investment advisor “KAMCO Invest” and the legal advisor “Meysan Partners”.
In this regards, Mr. Faisal M. Sarkhou, Chief Executive Officer of Kamco Invest said: “We are pleased to have advised stc on this successful acquisition, whereby, this transaction demonstrates our capabilities in the M&A deals, from sourcing candidates, assessing and evaluating each candidate, assisting companies in obtaining the required corporate and regulatory approvals till successfully completing the acquisition, in line with our clients’ strategic objectives. We would like to thank stc’s management for their trust and confidence, and all the other related parties on this transaction for their support and assistance.”
Sarkhou added, “Over the years, we have developed our expertise in advising on several M&A transactions worth over USD 5.9 bn, not only in Kuwait but also throughout the MENA region across various sectors.”
Mr. Tarek Yehya, senior partner of Meysan, commented: “We are very pleased to have been able to offer the legal advice to Kuwait Telecommunications Company (stc) to complete this deal and work side by side with a highly experienced and target driven team. As the ICT sector is one of the most important sectors in terms of business growth locally and globally, it takes an exceptional level of teamwork to execute this transaction, in accordance to the highest professional standards in this field. It is of our pleasure to have been a part of the team that supported stc in executing this deal successfully”.
Source: Press Release