Vivendi is eyeing about 33 percent of Oger, sources say
BEIRUT (Reuters) – France’s Vivendi is in advanced talks to buy about 33 percent of Oger Telecom in a deal that would expand the media group’s telecom business into Turkey and South Africa, a person familiar with the talks said. «Talks are at a very advanced stage. They are talking about acquiring a stake in the neighborhood of one-third,» the person, who declined to be identified, told Reuters on Saturday. Paris-based Vivendi said on Thursday it was holding talks with Dubai-based Oger Telecom’s majority owner, Saudi Oger, about buying a stake. It did not give details. Saudi Oger, controlled by relatives of late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, said the same day Vivendi and other parties were interested in taking a minority stake in the telecom firm. Vivendi owns Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest music company, French broadcaster Canal+ and a Vivendi Games business. The French firm’s telecom holdings include a 51 percent stake in Morocco’s biggest telecoms company, Maroc Telecom, and a majority stake in SFR, the second-biggest mobile telecoms operator in France. Oger Telecom has a stake in Turk Telekom, which runs Turkey’s third-largest mobile phone operator, Avea. It also has a cellular business, loss-making Cell C in South Africa, and Internet services in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon.
