The two companies had signed a shareholder agreement for the sale after weeks of wrangling over the deal. Etisalat made a binding offer in July that valued Vivendi's stake in Maroc Telecom at €3.9 billion ($5.27 billion). It will also pay Vivendi €300 million in cash; equivalent to the 2012 dividend of 7.40 dirhams a share set aside by Maroc Telecom for the French investor.
The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval in Morocco, adds four countries to Etisalat's business—Morocco, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Mali—and creates a West Africa cluster of operations that is likely to be managed by executives at Maroc Telecom, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Etisalat, which currently operates in 15 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, is eager to rapidly expand again in emerging markets after holding off acquisitions during the financial crisis.
In addition to Maroc Telecom, Etisalat is in talks to buy India-based Bharti Airtel's operations in Sri Lanka, and one of its subsidiaries in Pakistan, PTCL, has bid for competitor Warid Telecom for an undisclosed sum.
"Markets have to consolidate," Ahmad Julfar, chief executive of Etisalat, recently said. "I think all the markets in the world will consolidate to two or three [operators],"
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