Zain terminates sale, re-lease deal signed with IHS

Mobile Telecommunications Company Saudi Arabia (Zain Saudi) announced on Monday the termination of the agreement signed with IHS Holding Limited for the sale and lease back of its passive towers infrastructure, the company said in a bourse statement.

The Saudi-listed firm further noted in the statement that the termination will not have any financial impact.

According to data compiled by Argaam, Zain inked the above-mentioned deal in March 2019, included sale of approximately 8,100 passive tower infrastructure and the building of an additional 1,500 (over the next 6 years) together with the lease back of such towers, for 15 years with the option to extend. The transaction value was raised from SAR 2.43 billion to SAR 2.52 billion.

In June, Zain received a letter from the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) indicating that IHS Holding did not fulfill the regulatory requirements pertaining to the sale and lease back of the passive towers infrastructure.