Etisalat has announced an intention to buy Vivendi's 53 per cent holding in Morocco's biggest telecoms operator. Maroc Telecom competes with Meditel, affiliated with France Telecom, and Inwi, which counts Kuwait's Zain among its main shareholders.
Etisalat "is among others who expressed interest in Vivendi's stake", the company said in a filing published on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX). "Further proceeding with the transaction is subject to a number of conditions including completion of satisfactory due diligence, fulfilment of certain requirements and the conditions precedent necessary to close the transaction."
The filing was posted after the market close at 2pm.
Etisalat, which holds the heaviest weighting on the capital's index, slipped 0.3 per cent to end at Dh9.39 a share before the announcement.
Maroc owns a majority stake in Mauritel, Mauritania's main telecoms company, and also has subsidiaries in Burkina Faso, Gabon and Mali.
The ADX General Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 2,765.82 points.
Dubai's shares rose to the highest in more than two years amid investor bets that corporate earnings from contracting firms will outperform expectations.
Arabtec Holding, the biggest contractor in the emirate, jumped 4.1 per cent to Dh2.74. Drake & Scull International, the emirate's second-biggest, surged 5.6 per cent to 81 fils a share.
The Dubai Financial Market General Index rose 1.9 per cent to 1,774.92, the highest level since November 2011.
"It's a very good market," said Mohammed Ali Yasin, the managing director of National Bank of Dhabi's brokerage arm.
