Etisalat bids $10.5bn for 46% stake in Zain

Middle Eastern telecom giant Etisalat, has put in a preliminary conditional offer of $10bln for a 46% stake in rival, Zain.
Etisalat already operates in 18 countries while Zain only operates in eight countries after selling majority of its African operations to India’s Bharti Airtel for $10.7bln early this year.
This move will make Etisalat one of the largest mobile operators in the world, by adding 32.7 million Zain subscribers to its own 100million.
Zain currently has a commercial presence in 8 countries across the Middle East and North African with over 5,000 employees providing a comprehensive range of mobile voice and data services to over 34.2 million active individual and business customers as of June 30, 2010.