Saudi Telecom buys 25 per cent in Malaysia''s Maxis for $3 billion

27 June 2007

Mumbai: Saudi Telecom Co, the country''s largest phone company, has bought 25 per cent of Malaysia`s top mobile-phone operator Maxis Communications BHD for $3 billion.

Saudi Telecom paid 11.4 billion riyals ($3 billion) for its first major acquisition overseas, the company said in a statement posted on the Saudi stock market web site. The transaction will be financed through borrowing and self-financing, the state-controlled company said.

The transaction would value Maxis at about $12 billion.

The deal "will give the company access to a market of 1.4 billion people," Mohammed al-Jisr, chairman of Saudi Telecom said in the statement.

Saudi Telecom competes with Etihad Etisalat in Saudi Arabia. A third mobile-phone company, Saudi Mobile Telecommunications Co, will enter the market next year.

Saudi Telecom was looking at markets in the Middle East and Asia, and this purchase makes sense as Maxis services a huge population in Malaysia , India and soon Singapore, analysts said.