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Sharm Al Shaikh: Tecom Investments, the asset manager controlled by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, plans to buy as many as three companies this year as it uses earnings from Gulf real estate to expand overseas.
“We're considering two to three acquisitions this year” in our target regions of Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Chief Executive Officer Abdul Latif Al Mulla said in an interview at the World Economic Forum Middle East meeting in Sharm Al Shaikh.
Tecom and Dubai Investment Group, both units of Dubai Holding LLC, in 2006 beat Vivendi Universal SA for a 35 per cent stake in Tunisie Telecom. Through its Emirates International Telecommunications Ltd. venture Tecom also owns a controlling stake in Malta's GO Plc, with whom it bought 21 per cent of the Greek Internet company Forthnet SA in January.
Gulf Arab phone companies including Saudi Telecom Co. and Kuwait-based Zain are expanding outside their region as their own markets mature and as earnings growth gives them cash to outbid rivals for assets. etisalat, on May 12 said it may bid for South Africa's MTN Group Ltd. to add to the 16 countries it already has units in.
Tecom runs tax-free business parks in Dubai, specializing in media, technology, energy, environmental services and healthcare. It owns shares in du, the UAE's second-largest phone company, and is building business parks for technology companies in Malta and India.
Al Mulla said on Sunday he wants “to take some of our assets public,” declining to specify which companies might be offered for sale.
Al Mulla said in April Tecom was in talks with Dell Inc. on “strategic initiatives.” He declined to comment on the progress of the talks on Sunday.
Dubai is selling shares in its largest state companies to raise money for expansion and to increase investor awareness of the Gulf emirate. DP World, the world's third-largest port operator, sold a $4.96 billion stake and listed its shares on the Dubai International Financial Exchange last year in the Middle East's largest initial public offering.
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