Nizar Bouguila, the CEO of Tunisie Telecom (TT), told Vanessa Macdonald that it wants Maltese shareholders to stay on board, rather than to take up its offer of €2.87 per share.
Why would the Emirates International Telecommunications (EIT) want to sell to a company in which it already has 35 per cent shareholding?
I cannot speak for EIT but GO issued an open, international competition to sell its shares. When we received this information, we studied it from our point of view and identified that there was a strategic fit between TT and GO, primarily because of the geographical and cultural proximity. Malta is a dynamic economy and there are many synergies between TT and GO. There could be a lot of new business benefiting GO as well as TT.
We made our bid and were identified as the preferred bidder by the GO board.
TT is much bigger than GO in terms of customer base. However, you have only got one overseas subsidiary – in Mauritania, a very different market to an EU one. Do you have the experience to cope with EU regulations and customer expectations?
TT is a big company with more than seven million customers in Tunisia and 700,000 in Mauritania.
Like GO, we are present in fixed line, mobile, broadband and cloud services, and have international experience with Mauritania. But our management also has a diverse international background.
I was myself involved extensively with international companies, mainly in France, for example.
You only got a 4G licence this year. Are you experienced enough to handle Malta, Cyprus and Greece?
We were 2G and 3G operators for a long time and were very keen to get into 4G. But the regulator only decided to launch 4G licences last year. We got the licence early this year. But in parallel to the licence process, we rolled out the network so when we launched in March this year we hit the ground running.
We wish for the Maltese to remain with us; we want to remain a Maltese-listed company that delivers profitability to the economy and to the people
We already rolled it out across almost all the regions in Tunisia and offer coverage to almost all our customers.
You are committed to continuing GO’s strategy, such as 4G, FTTH and data centres. In Tunisia you have been investing €106 million on average. How much will you invest in Malta every year?
We will continue with the GO strategy, investing mainly in 4G and FTTH which GO already started to roll out. GO already has a plan for that which we will support.
What will your dividend policy be? You said in the offer that it would be “determined from time to time” by the board… But that is not really enough information for the shareholders when it comes to making a decision on whether to sell!
The same policy that GO maintained over the past years with regard to dividend will apply. Of course, GO is a Maltese company and it has to remain a Maltese company. We would like the Maltese investors to stay with us on this long journey to develop and help this company flourish.
Do you want the 8,000 public shareholders to take up your offer and sell your shares or not?
We had to launch the offer in line with the listing rules. But as I said, TT would like to keep Maltese investors on board. We want them to vote in favour of this new partnership and for the future of GO.
You said recently that you intended to keep the shares listed but that this might change if you end up with more than 90 per cent of the shares. In that case, you would have to draw up a fair price. Shouldn’t shareholders wait and see? Wouldn’t they get more for their shares if they held out?
The shareholders must make their own judgement of course, but we do want them to stay on board. If we have more than 90 per cent of the shares, then we have to look at the business case and assess the factors at the time.
One of the conditions of the offer is the restructuring of GO’s Greek interest in Forthnet. Why?
It is important that the Forthnet set-up should be clarified and that the ownership of the shares are directly attributed to GO to simplify the ownership structure.
If I may make a final comment: we are very glad to be part of this project and to have been selected as the preferred bidder. We wish for the Maltese to remain with us; we want to remain a Maltese-listed company that delivers profitability to the economy and to the people. We want to work together to make it a platform to deliver ICT services to Malta and beyond.