- DUBAI: Zain Saudi Arabia plans a shareholder meeting to vote on cutting its capital by 55 percent, part of a capital restructuring plan aimed to cover accumulated losses.
The mobile operator, in which Kuwait’s Zain has a 25 percent stake, wants to reduce its capital base to 6 billion riyals ($1.60 billion) from SR14 billion currently, it said in a statement.
The company did not mention a date for the shareholders meeting.
Zain Saudi unveiled a plan in August last year to cut its capital by almost half and later launch a rights issue to raise it by nearly 60 percent.
On Sunday, Kuwait’s Zain rejected all bids for the sale of its stake in Zain Saudi, a key regulatory requirement for Etisalat’s stake buy in the Kuwaiti telco.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Company, Batelco and an investment consortium led by Al-Riyadh Group had bid for the stake.
Zain Saudi has been accumulating losses since beginning its operations by paying $6 billion for a license.
It trimmed its fourth quarter net losses by 21 percent year-on-year as it increased its customer base and widened network coverage.

