VMMEA receives US$50 million investment from GIC

Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa (VMMEA) today announced that Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) will invest US$50 million in the MVNO, securing the investment company a significant minority stake.

VMMEA is the leading MVNO in the MEA region, while GIC is a leading financial institution equally and wholly owned by the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Following the conclusion of the transaction, GIC and the Virgin Group will be the two largest single shareholders in VMMEA, alongside prominent global and regional shareholders including, ePlanet Capital, Dolphin International, NTEC and Millennium Private Equity.

In June 2012, Virgin Group and Friendi Group announced the signing of a strategic partnership agreement for the Middle East and Africa, which led to the two groups merging their regional telecom operations, creating the combined entity VMMEA.

The signing ceremony at the Virgin Group headquarters in London, sitting down form left-to-right: Peter Langkilde (chairman, VMMEA), Mikkel Vinter (CEO & founder, VMMEA), Shafic Ali (director Principal Investment, GIC) and Peter Stephens (Partner and Global Head for Telecoms & Media Investments, Virgin Group). Standing up form left-to-right: Fahad Al-Nusef (VP for Technology & Telecom Investments, GIC) and Mohamed Eissa (head of Technology & Telecom Investments, GIC)