UAE-based operator Etisalat Maroc Telecom has dropped an offer to buy the remaining shares in Maroc Telecom. Etisalat earlier acquired 53 percent in the operator from Vivendi and said it would buy out the remaining shareholders. However, the UAE operator said it had since been exempted from making an offer to minority shareholders, which is usually required under Morocco's takeover rules. The authorities decided that "due to public and national interest" Etisalat need not go through with its buyout bid, a spokesman told Reuters.
Etisalat paid EUR 4.14 billion for Vivendi's stake in Maroc Telecom, while the remaining shares are split between a 30 percent stake owned by the government and 17 percent of free float. Under bourse rules, acquiring companies do not need to offer minority shareholders the same price they paid in the original acquisition and Etisalat did not reveal the price per share it had proposed.
