QTel, Princesse to buy Orascom’s Tunisiana stake

Qatar Telecom QSC, the country’s largest company by revenue, and Princesse Holding of Tunisia will buy 50 per cent of Telecom Tunisie for $1.2 billion from Orascom Telecom Holding as the Egyptian company sells assets.

Qatar Telecom’s unit Wataniya Telecom signed an agreement with a group led by Princesse Holding, a diversified holding company based Tunis, to purchase the stake, Qatar Telecom said in an e-mailed statement today. Wataniya already holds 50 per cent of Tunisiana.

“Wataniya will finance its portion of the transaction with a mixture of existing cash and debt, and now will control the board and management of Tunisiana,” according to the statement. Tunisiana had more than 5.7 million subscribers at the end of September, it said.

Orascom Telecom’s parent company, Weather Investments SpA, agreed on October 4 to a merger with Russia’s VimpelCom Ltd in a transaction valued at about $6.5bn. The boards of both companies will meet by the end of this month to complete the agreement.