Telecom Deal of the Year 2012 Middle East short lists reveal US$10bn of deals

April 11, 2012 - PRLog -- Dubai, UAE, May 11, 2012 – The Telecom Deal of the Year shortlist for the TMT Finance Middle East 2012 Awards have been announced highlighting over US$10bn of successful merger and financing activity by the region’s leading telecom operators over the past year.

Saudi Telecom (STC), Etisalat, Orascom, Mobily , France Telecom, Zain and Viva Bahrain feature on this year’s short list which includes three completed merger and acquisition transactions and four financing deals. Investment Banks featured include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, EFG Hermes, HSBC, Lazard, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, National Bank of Egypt , Samba Bank, Saudi Bank and the World Bank.

The 2012 Deal of the Year Winners, along with the rest of the 2012 TMT Finance Middle East Awards winners, will be presented on May 2 at the Gala Dinner of the TMT Finance & Investment Middle East 2012 Conference at Mina A’ Salam, Dubai,  the 6th annual regional gathering for the telecom, finance and advisory community.

The full short list this year for Deal of the Years category, listed alphabetically, is:

•   Etisalat Egypt US$1.24bn loan
Banks - National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr and National Bank of Abu Dhabi

•   Korek Telecom sale of 44% stake to France Telecom and Agility for US$580m (equity and debt)

•   Mobily US$2.6bn Islamic financing and rights issue
Al-Rajhi Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, National Commercial Bank, Riyad Bank, Samba Financial Group, SABB and Saudi Hollandi

•   Orascom demerger as part of Vimplecom acquisition of Wind for US$6.5bn
Credit Suisse, EFG Hermes and Lazard

•   Saudi Telecom (STC) acquisition of Axis and US$1.2bn financing  
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Saudi British Bank

•   Viva Bahrain Murabaha financing of US$280m
HSBC and Samba Bank

•   Zain Iraq  raises US$400m loan
IFC, the financing arm of the World Bank, Ahli United Bank

“The 2012 short list shows a really impressive range of deals, especially considering the extremely challenging economic and geo-political conditions over the past 12 months,” said Dominic Lowndes, Editor, TMT Finance News, who will chair the judging panel. “In such a difficult climate it is important to give credit to successful financing deals as well as mergers and acquisitions and each transaction will be judged individually on difficulty, innovation and significance.”

The shortlists of the other TMT Finance Middle East 2012 Awards will be announced later this week including: Telecom CEO of the Year, Mobile Operator, M&A Adviser, Broadband Operator, Growth Story, Debt Bank, Technology Provider and Legal Adviser.  

The Awards are nominated by readers of TMT Finance News the leading industry newsletter for global telecom financing activity (www.tmtfinance.com) and the short lists assessed and selected by a Judging Panel featuring leading industry experts, advisers, and bankers (www.tmtfinance.com/awards/judgespanel).

For more information on the TMT Finance & Investment Middle East Conference and Awards go to www.tmtfinance.com/middleeast/programme
Contact – enquiries@tmtfinance.com