Zain Saudi Arabia moves ahead on towers sale to PIF-led group

Mobile telecommunications company Zain Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it had transferred ownership of its unit Zain Business Limited to the Public Investment Fund (PIF), paving the way for the sale of the company’s towers infrastructure.

PIF has changed the unit’s name to the Golden Lattice Investment Company (GLI), a statement posted on the Saudi stock exchange said, which will become the holding company in charge of the sale of Zain KSA’s towers infrastructure units.

The sale of 8,069 tower assets over to a PIF-led consortium was approved in February, with the deal valued at just over $800 million. As part of the asset purchase agreement, Zain Saudi will receive a cash amount of 2.4 billion riyals and a 20% stake in GLI.

Under the agreement, all the units need to be transferred to GLI within 18 months from the financial completion, by which time at least 3000 sites should already be transferred over. Reuters