Business

Two companies express interest in acquiring WorldCall Telecom

WTL’s share price surged on Friday despite KSE-100 Index plummeting over 800 points

Our Correspondent June 25, 2016

WTL’s share price surged on Friday despite KSE-100 Index plummeting over 800 points. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: WorldCall Telecom Limited’s (WTL) share price surged significantly on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday after it announced that some companies had expressed the intention to acquire the telecom concern.

Allied Supplies and Services (Private) Limited and Dunya Technologies (Private) Limited have expressed the intention to acquire 56.8% of ordinary shares in WTL and 100% of convertible preference shares, respectively, according to a bourse filing.

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“We are pleased to submit a public announcement of the intention to acquire 488,839,429 ordinary shares in WTL representing 56.8% the total issued and paid-up share capital and 350,000 convertible preference shares representing 100% of the convertible preference shares issued by WTL,” said a WTL notification to the PSX.

The announcement invited attention of equity investors towards the telecom company’s shares, which surged by Rs0.37 per share, or 23.27%, and closed at Rs1.96 with a turnover of 15.23 million shares at the bourse on Friday.

The share price went up in a bear-run market, as the benchmark KSE 100-share index dropped by 848.01 points, or 2.21%, and closed at 37,389.88 points.

The notification said Omantel Telecommunications Company is the major shareholder in WTL. The face value of its ordinary (voting) shares is Rs10 per share, while the face value of convertible preference shares is $100 per share.

Going forward, the acceptance of the intention by WTL would allow interested companies to conduct due diligence and give their bid price for the acquisition. This would all be subject to regulatory approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and other regulators concerned.

In case, the deal is executed at a certain agreed price, then the acquirer of the ordinary voting shares, Allied Supplies and Services (Private) Limited, would make a public announcement to acquire another 50% of the shares of the total owned by general public.

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The official website of WTL said it launched its business in June 1996 with payphone operations. Amid fundamental shifts in technology and industry, innovation and dedication led it to grow in diversified businesses under three major service categories ie data, entertainment and voice.

It became an associate company of Omantel after acquisition of majority shareholding by Omantel in 2008.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2016.

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COMMENTS (1)

Ahmad Khalil | 8 years ago | Reply This company only has valuable spectrum assets. The customer base is highly dissatisfied and has moved to competitors. It is corrupt inside out. Beware anybody who buys this. It is better to invest in DTH licensing instead of taking the debt of Worldcall. If one has to spend just start fresh and not get into cable tv mess. Why not? Dunya technologies is owned by Dunya TV so cannot own more than 50%. Will have to do some round about way to acquire this.

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