Dhabi Group has confirmed its intent of offloading majority stakes with management control of Warid’s operations in Pakistan. Group didn’t mention the size and value of this expected deal. However, for the first time in three months, group authenticated Warid’s sellout rumors, which it kept denying till now.
This statement came directly from Dhabi Group’s top management, as quoted by The National, a UAE based newspaper.
There has been a slight shift in the known scenario – as along with Telenor, PTCL has stepped in as another interested buyer of Warid Telecom.
“PTCL has shown keen interest in Warid Telecom,” told Bashir Tahir, CEO of Abu Dhabi Group to The National, “We are talking to every operator and we know they are also talking to each other”. He added.
We know that Walid Irshad had confirmed merger talks, but that was back in June 2009.
It merits mentioning here that Dhabi Group has recently sold majority stakes in group’s African Telecom operations to Essar, followed by another sellout of 70 percent stakes with management control of its Bangladeshi arm to Bharti Airtel.
A top official of a cellular company, who is close to situation, while commenting on the deal said that Warid is trying to best place itself to get highest bid. He said that Warid is negotiating, rather re-negotiating with all players, and purpose is clear, to boost its face value.
Ali Tahir, group chief commercial officer of Warid Telecom said in an interview that Economic and political situation in Pakistan over the past two years had made it difficult to grow Warid Telecom. This statement leads to a conclusion that Warid may hurriedly wrap up its operations in Pakistan.
“If you are a passive investor and want to manage a telecom company, it is very difficult to do,” Mr Tahir said. Any deal is likely to include a “put clause” that will give the Abu Dhabi Group the option of selling the rest of its stake at a set price within three years, he said.
Anticipating the situation, Infrastructure vendors are already planning network merger solutions for Telenor and Warid. An official of network vendor told ProPakistani that merger/acquisition will result network merger too. He commented that we have case studies of such mergers before, where two large scale operators merged into one. He advised that network merger of both the companies will free up resources with cost effective and optimized network performance.
The investment bank Goldman Sachs is advising the Abu Dhabi Group, as it did at the time of Warid-Singtel deal.
Other advisers involved in the negotiations are JP Morgan Chase for SingTel and Citibank for Telenor, Mr. Tahir said.
Update: In an email communication, Mr. Bashir A Tahir, CEO Warid Telecom International denied mentioned story. Following is what he exactly wrote for us,
Recently there have been misplaced news items in certain section of the press that Warid Telecom Pakistan may be up for sale because of the shrinking interest of the sponsors relating to the market conditions in Pakistan.
Warid telecom Pakistan categorically and unequivocally denies such reports and impressions. Warid Telecom Pakistan is not being sold off rather is on course with its expansion plans with the continuing focused view to extend quality services to its loyal customers to whom it is deeply grateful.
Warid Telecom Pakistan also extends sincere thanks to its business partners for their support and professional contribution. Bashir A. Tahir, CEO, Warid Telecom International
Update 2: An update of this story, regarding Warid’s denial of this report is published here
Mr Aamir Atta you are in habit of making such stories which are always unclear, in your stories you by yourself do not know the exact situation but your speculation sense is admirable. I will advise you to make stories only when you by yourself know the authenticity of any news.
salam;
all pakistan;
Warid ko kuch karna chahye.
great offer.
So sad! I love warid
Its rather an awkward situation for a falling telco empire to hire some one like Atif aslam as their brand mascot just before this whole “taken over” thing….daal mein kuch kala zaroor hai for sure
Seems Crap… Warid is doing good business and has the best network in country. Survival isnt an issue for the company contrary to what mentioned above. It has recently crossed uFone to become the third largest operator of country.
Warid did not cross ufone! Ufone gave way to warid itself.
man warid is doing good business but u know the main reason of this auctions is coz of two sons of shiekh nayaan mubarak they dont want to continue their business.other reason is that warid is the smallest telecom group jus 4 year market experience .orascom has 10 year telenor has 60 years china mobile has 15 years and etisalat ufone have 10 years so the point is that the big guns know how to survive in the market
well its a bull shit that warid is now hiring atif r they sleepin yet
Just a rumour.
Competitors are trying to play dirty game.
This is not a rumour just visit the following link its now available in international media
http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=716720
Hard to believe, also this won’t be a favourable move by Warid, at the current situation.
If PTCL (Etisalat) is going to buy Warid then it means ke patha be gaya of Warid.
Visit the following link to get to know the real story at Warid Offical Website:
http://www.waridtel.com/about/media/archive/warid-not-selling-its-stakes.php