Zain confirms offer for African assets-bourse

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti telecom group Zain confirmed it had received an offer for some of its African assets on Sunday, one day after reports India's Bharti Airtel had offered up to $10.7 billion for the assets.

Zain's board and that of its largest shareholder, Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund KIA, will both hold meetings on Sunday to review the offer, while the Kuwaiti bourse suspended trading in the company's shares.

Zain's confirmation of the offer, which would mark one of the biggest cross-border transactions in the Middle East in recent years, marks a turning point in the long-running sell-off saga concerning the third-biggest telecoms operator in the region.

"Zain said that it received an offer (for selling) Zain Africa, except for Sudan and Morocco," the firm said in a statement on the Kuwait bourse website.

KIA, which owns a 24.6 percent stake in Zain, will meet on Sunday to decide on an offer by India's Bharti Airtel for assets of the firm, Kuwaiti daily al-Rai said in an unsourced report.

Bharti has resumed its hunt for emerging market acquisitions after its planned $24 billion merger with South Africa's MTN failed in September, the second time a proposed deal between the two had collapsed in just over a year.

Trading in Zain's shares will remain halted until the firm's board makes a decision on the offer, the bourse said.

Shares in Zain have risen 23 percent since February 4 and rose 3.9 percent on Thursday, ahead of the Middle East weekend.

The statement did not provide any details about the offer.

A Zain spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

A Bharti spokesman declined to comment.

(Reporting by Eman Goma; Editing by Thomas Atkins)

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