KUWAIT: Shareholders of Kuwaiti telecoms firm Zain, which is selling most of its African assets to India's Bharti Airtel, have received offers to sell a majority stake in the group, a newspaper reported on Sunday. Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai, citing what it called informed sources, did not identify the bidders. "The major shareholders in Zain group have received verbal offers from four parties for the possibility to enter negotiations to buy a majority stake in the company," the newspaper said. The newspaper said the shareholders would not want to begin negotiations for selling a stake in the group until the Bharti transaction is completed. The Kuwait Investment Authority and family-owned conglomerate Kharafi group are among Zain's biggest stakeholders. A Zain spokesman declined to comment on the report on Sunday. In March, Zain and Bharti had struck a deal to buy the Kuwaiti telecoms operations in 15 African countries for $9 billion. Bharti said last month that it expected to close the deal by mid-May.
