Political uncertainty in Tunisia is affecting all sorts of sectors, including telecommunications. According to a press conference on Monday, Tunisie Telecom said it may not be able to go forward with a planned investor roadshow for a planned listing in Paris and Tunis due to the North African country's political situation. The country was expected to announce a new government on Monday. It comes after month-long protested succeeded in ousting President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from power. The country's telecom company was to hold investor meetings in London, Paris and Switzerland over the course of the coming week, investment sources said. The lack of government stability is of concern for the telecom company as 65 percent of the company is state-owned. The remaining 35 percent is jointly owned by Dubai's TECOM Investments and Dubai Investment Group. “The state of emergency and departure of the president will clearly delay the Tunisie Telecom IPO (initial public offering),” Daniel Broby, chief investment officer at Silk Invest, told reporters on Monday. “The advisers to the IPO will, in our opinion, have to err on the side of caution and delay to the second quarter or beyond.” The global lead manager is Credit Suisse, with several Tunisian brokers also involved, sources said. A Credit Suisse spokeswoman would not comment on the issue. The listing was to be the first offering by a Tunisian company on a European bourse, and the company said last month it had lodged documents with the regulators of the two exchanges. BM
