Zapp set to be bought by Saudi Oger

Saudi Arabia-based group Saudi Oger is negotiating the takeover of the stake held by American company Qualcomm in the Romanian company Telemobil, which operates the mobile telephony network Zapp, with the transaction to be concluded in January next year at the latest. Saudi Oger, a group controlled by the family of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri, is already one of Telemobil’s shareholders through the investment fund Omnia Holdings, which owns 45.76% in Inquam, Telemobil’s majority shareholder. Qualcomm also holds 45.76%. With a fortune estimated at nearly 17 billion dollars in 2006, the Hariri family is one of the richest in the world. Saudi Oger is the owner of the Oger Telecom operator, present in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, South Africa and Turkey, with revenues worth 5.79 billion dollars. In Turkey, it holds 55% of Turk Telecom (fixed telephony operator) and 81% of Avea (mobile telephony operator). Saudi Oger could pay over 100 million euros for 45.76% of Telemobil, a company which posted a net profit worth 14 million euros last year, and 99 million-euro turnover.