Qatar in Talks to Buy State-Held Stakes in Egypt for $2.5 billion

Qatar is in advanced talks to buy around $2.5 billion of state-held stakes in Egypt’s biggest mobile network operator and other companies, as the North African nation lines up funding to cope with the economic fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Under the potential pact, which is expected to be finalized by the end of this year, Qatar Investment Authority would acquire 20 percent in Vodafone Egypt from Telecom Egypt Co., according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The QIA is the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund and oversees an estimated $445 billion in assets.

The people, who asked not to be named because the talks are confidential, didn’t identify the other firms, saying only that they weren’t listed on Egypt’s stock market.

A deal would be a boost for Egypt’s troubled economy, which is grappling with soaring food and fuel bills after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and an exodus of foreign investors in its local debt.

Gulf Arab states have already pledged upward of $20 billion in deposits and investments, while Egypt is close to securing sorely needed International Monetary Fund assistance.

State-owned Telecom Egypt, which began operating in 1854 with the first telegraph line connecting Cairo and Alexandria, acquired its 45 percent stake in Vodafone Egypt to gain a strategic foothold in the mobile telecommunications market prior to founding its own provider, WE, in 2017.

The UK’s Vodafone Group owns 54.9 percent stake of Vodafone Egypt, and while there was an agreement to sell a majority stake in the company to its Johannesburg-based subsidiary Vodacom Group Ltd. for $2.7 billion last year that transaction hasn’t closed.

Egypt’s sovereign wealth fund, the QIA and Telecom Egypt all declined to comment. Ayman Essam, Vodafone Egypt’s spokesperson, said it was “not officially aware of the deal and declined to comment further.