Egyptian company Global Telecom Holding (GTH) has agreed to sell the remaining shares it holds in Djezzy (Algerian mobile phone operator), including the MedCable submarine fiber optics system, to the Dutch telecoms group VEON Ltd. The operation, which is valued at 70.195 billion Algerian dinars is part of a larger-scale procedure.
Since the end of June 2019, VEON Ltd has been seeking to acquire more than 1,997,639,608 additional shares of GTH, representing 42.31% of the company's share capital. On August 18, 2019, GTH announced the approval by its Board of Directors of the $2.3 billion offer made by VEON Ltd.
This acquisition includes, in addition to Djezzy's shares, the acquisition of shares in the Pakistani mobile operator Jazz for 313.335 billion Pakistani rupees ($1,955,335,734); in the Bangladeshi mobile operator Banglalink for 24.916 billion takas ($294,968,066) and shares in Mobilink Bank for 14.741 billion Pakistani rupees ($91,989,736).
Following this acquisition of additional shares of GTH, VEON Ltd is expected to own nearly 98% of the company in which it is already a shareholder. VEON Ltd intends, through this asset acquisition transaction, to continue the global restructuring of GTH announced on 26 June 2019, in particular by delisting GTH from the Cairo Stock Exchange.