Zain raises US$4.49 billion capital

Zain Group has raised KWD1.2 billion (US$4.49 billion) in Kuwait’s largest capital raising exercise, with 99 per cent of all shareholders subscribing.

The number of subscribed shares exceeded 1.4 billion, bringing the total number of Zain shares to 4.28 billion with total shareholders’ equity reaching US$6.42 billion.

Zain has a subscriber base of 50 million people across 22 countries and is looking for further expansion.

Zain’s CEO Saad Al Barrak said the proceeds of the capital increase would be used to finance future strategic expansion plans and meet financial commitments.

“All the group’s financial indicators are now geared up to witness exponential growth on the back of Zain’s huge investments in expansion projects in many of the Middle East and African markets in which we operate. We expect these investments to bring about substantial increases in the group’s future revenues and net profits,” commented Al Barrak.

Zain has grown significantly in the past five years to now offer mobile telecoms services in 22 countries across the Middle East and Africa, with a subscriber base of 50 million.

Every Zain shareholder of record on March 10, 2008, the date the company held its ordinary and extraordinary general assembly meeting was eligible to subscribe to a number of capital increase shares equal to 75 per cent of the total number of shares they held on this date.

The capital increase subscription price was 850 fils per share.