Vodafone in talks to complete sale of Egyptian arm for 2.4bn dollars

Telecoms giant Vodafone Group has said it is in talks to complete the sale of its majority stake in Vodafone Egypt for 2.4 billion US dollars (£1.9 billion).

The company told investors on Monday that due diligence has been “substantively” completed by the potential buyer of its 55% stake.

Vodafone said that, despite the expiry of the deal’s memorandum, it has continued to make progress on the sale to Saudi Telecom Co (STC), Saudi Arabia’s largest telecoms operator.

“Vodafone now looks to STC and Telecom Egypt to find a suitable agreement to enable the transaction to close,” it said in a statement to investors.

The deal was expected to be completed in June but has been delayed twice, initially in April before a further delay in July.

STC blamed the delays on “logistical challenges” stemming from disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

On Sunday, STC said no agreement had been reached to buy the stake in Vodafone Egpyt, and that the parties have agreed to keep dialogue open.

Telecom Egypt, which owns the remaining 45% of the business, said it has not received proposals from Vodafone or STC and does not “have insight into the state of discussion or terms being discussed between the parties”.

Vodafone Egypt is the country’s largest mobile operator, with 44 million users and around 40% of the country’s market share.

Shares in Vodafone were 0.3% lower at 109.9p in early trading on Monday.