TechLahore

Remember one of the predictions we made in December? That Worldcall stock would rise at least 15% in 2008? Well, you can call that a slam dunk and here’s a high five! Omantel has just bought Worldcall for a substantial premium over its market cap as of Feb 19th, 2008. Wordcall closed on 19/2/2008 at Rs. 17.20, giving it a market cap of Rs. 13.16B. This translates into roughly $209M. But then Omantel comes in and swoops up 60% of Wordcall for almost as much as its total market cap… $193M! So that makes Wordcall immediately worth $322M. A jump of 54%!! How’s that for predictions? Huh? Read on to see the complete story.

Omantel buys Worldcall in $193m deal

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
MUSCAT: Oman Telecommunications Co (Omantel) said it paid $193 million for a controlling stake in Pakistan’s Worldcall Telecom, its biggest foreign investment so far as competition at home intensifies.

The purchase, which marks Omantel’s entry to the world’s sixth most-populous nation, will add between 3 and 7 per cent to profit next year, Omantel Chief Executive Officer Mohammed al-Wohaibi told reporters in the Omani capital, Muscat.

State-controlled Omantel said last May it was in talks to buy a Pakistan telecom operator, identifying Worldcall the following month. The company agreed to buy 488.8 million shares equivalent to 60 per cent of Worldcall and will buy another 5 per cent through the Pakistani stock market (KSE), it said in a statement late on Monday.

“Entering the Pakistani market is important because it is one of the markets that has the fastest growth rates due to the dense population and low penetration levels in several telecommunication services,” Wohaibi said in the statement.

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