Vivendi is selling off its telecom holdings to focus on media activities French conglomerate Vivendi said on Tuesday it was in exclusive talks with the UAE\'s telecom operator, Etisalat, to sell a 53 percent stake in Morocco\'s operator Maroc Telecom.
A source close to the negotiations told Arab Today that both parties are close to finalising their agreement, after ?the French company saw off competition from France Telecom, and Moroccan ?pressure to support the UAE in closing the deal.?
An official from Maroc Telecom told Arab Today that the Moroccan company is ready to deal ?with its new partner.
Maroc is still awaiting the UAE\'s response to its offer to take six percent of Vivendi’s ?shares.?
The Moroccan state owns 30 percent of the French share, and is counting on increasing its ownership in ?Vivendi’s share in order to reduce the UAE percentage to 48 percent.?
An official from Morocco\'s biggest institutional fund Caisse de Depot et de Gestion (CDG) ?said that Morocco started negotiations with Etisalat to take six or seven percent of Vivendi’s share, ?which amounts to 53 percent.?
The law allows the Moroccan kingdom to participate in choosing the group which intends to buy ?Vivendi’s share in Maroc Telecom.?
The sale is thought to be part of a bigger strategy by Vivendi to sell-off its telecom holdings to better focus on media activities, dominated by its Universal Music unit, the world\'s biggest music group.
Last week, the Financial Times reported that Vivendi had rejected an $8.5 billion offer by Japan\'s SoftBank for Universal Music.