Kuwait MTC Buys Madagascar Telecoms Stake
Tue Dec 13, 2005
KUWAIT (Reuters) - A unit of Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co. (MTC) (TELE.KW: Quote, Profile, Research) bought a majority stake in Madagascan mobile telecoms operator Madacom for $97 million, MTC said on Tuesday.
"Celtel, a subsidiary of Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), has purchased a majority stake in Madacom for the sum of $97 million," MTC said in a statement posted on the Kuwait stock exchange Web site.
An MTC official declined to disclose the size of the stake. Trading in MTC's shares was suspended briefly pending the announcement.
Madacom is majority-owned by Hong Kong-based Distacom. Dutch-based Celtel has operations in 13 African countries.
MTC has more than 12 million customers in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and in Africa. It is the largest of two mobile telecoms providers in Kuwait.
Shares in MTC were flat at 3.680 dinars while the benchmark index finished up 67.60 points, or 0.59 percent, to 11,492.20 points.
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