Nov 19 Saudi Telecom Co said on Thursday it has submitted an offer to increase its stake in Kuwait's VIVA to 100 percent that is pending approval from Kuwait's market regulator.
STC's voluntary offer document proposes to purchase all issued shares in the Kuwaiti firm it does not already own. Its current stake in VIVA, which only listed on Kuwait's bourse in December 2014, is 26 percent, it said in a bourse statement.
VIVA, which competes with Zain and Ooredoo Kuwait , made a net profit of 33 million dinars ($108.7 million)in the nine-months ending September, up 12 percent year-on-year.
Viva's current market capitalisation is $1.52 billion, Reuters data shows.
($1 = 0.3035 Kuwaiti dinars) (Reporting by Nadia Saleem; editing by Matt Smith)