Shareholders in Zain, the mobile operator that is Kuwait's largest public company, are negotiating the sale of a stake, its chief executive confirmed today.
Late last month, shareholders voted to remove ownership restrictions on its shares, fuelling speculation that a strategic investor was looking to acquire a stake in the company, which owns mobile networks across Africa and the Middle East.
Zain's share price has almost doubled in recent months as expectations of a stake sale, combined with the company's publicly acknowledged plan to sell its assets in sub-Saharan Africa, raised investor interest. Zain shares rose 5 per cent today.
The Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), a sovereign wealth fund, and the Kharafi Group, a family-owned conglomerate, are Zain's largest institutional investors. The two companies own a combined 35.5 per cent of the company.
Al Arabiya news network reported today that an unnamed Asian investor was in discussions to acquire a 46 per cent stake in Zain, without giving further details. The chief executive of Zain, Saad al Barrak, confirmed to Reuters that shareholders were in talks to sell a stake, adding that management were not involved in the talks.
At an industry conference in June, Mr al Barrak, a staunch opponent of government involvement in the private sector, said he looked forward to the KIA ending its involvement in the company.
"I wish they would leave tomorrow, and I am working on this," he said.
"Any government ownership imposes, by the nature of government, some economic and political decisions, which are extremely detrimental to the well-being of private enterprise."
tgara@thenational.ae
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
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How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
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