Etisalat last year bought a 53 percent majority stake in Maroc Telecom from a French group, Vivendi at $4.7 billion.Just one year down the line, Etisalat announced a deal to offload its assets in six African countries to Maroc Telelcom via its subsidiaries, Atlantique Telecom SA and Etisalat International Benin Limited (EIBL) making Maroc Telecom one of the largest telecom players on the continet.
According to the two firms, the has been completed with a transfer of a 53-percent shareholding to Maroc Telecom in May 2014 giving Maroc ownership over its operations in Benin, the Central African Republic, Gabon, the Ivory Coast, Niger and Togo. The $537 deal also includes Prestige Telecom an Ivory Coast IT services firm.
The deal makes Maroc Telecom, one of largest telco players in Africa with operations in ten countries including owning assets in Ivory Coast, Gabon, Niger, Togo, Benin and Central Africa Republic. Etisalat did not sell its Nigerian operations.