Saudi Arabia’s sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF) has made a non-binding offer of nearly US$6 billion to acquire 51% of STC’s towers unit TAWAL.
STC (Saudi Telecom Company) noted that the offer would facilitate its plan to “expand by retaining stakes in value-added strategic assets across its subsidiaries”, adding that “the return on these assets” would enable further investment and increased returns for shareholders. The offer will require regulatory approvals.
TAWAL (Telecom Towers Company) is fully owned by STC, and has an estimated value of 21.94 billion riyals (US$5.84 billion). PIF manages assets worth around US$608 billion, and owns 64% of STC. According to Global SWF, between 1st January and 1st October 2022, PIF signed a total of 39 agreements with a combined value of US$17.2 billion.
Reuters notes that under one of these deals, PIF led a consortium to acquire a majority holding in the tower unit of mobile operator Zain KSA for over 3 billion riyals.
