DUBAI: HSBC Holdings has ceased to be a bookrunner on Asiacell’s planned share sale, raising new questions about the Iraqi telecom operator’s ability float 25 percent of the company to mainly local investors.
The London-listed bank’s exit follows that of Morgan Stanley Inc in September, and a statement from Asiacell yesterday showed Baghdad-based broker Rabee Securities as “sole distributor and selling agent” for its initial public offering (IPO) of shares.
Asiacell, a unit of Qatar Telecommunications (Qtel), declined to comment further, and HSBC also declined to comment. Asiacell and its two rivals in the market, Zain Iraq and Korek, have to raise funds through IPOs as a condition of their $1.25bn operating licenses. All three companies missed an earlier deadline of August 2011. Asiacell is to be first to float on the Iraqi bourse.
“The absence of global and regional banks providing custody and brokerage services/access products make it difficult to pitch the IPO to international investors, so it will be mainly targeted at local investors,” said Marc Hammoud, Deutsche Bank telecoms analyst.
Asiacell claims to have a 43 percent revenue market share and 9.9 million subscribers.
Reuters
