Libya buys 5 per cent stake in Thuraya
October 1997
Libya buys 5 per cent stake in Thuraya
Thuraya has announced that Libya has taken a five per cent stake worth $25 million in Thuraya.
"The amount invested by Libya is $25 million which represents five percent of the total Thuraya capital amounting to $500 million," according to a Thuraya statement.
The deal involves the transfer of the five percent of Thuraya’s equity from its principal backer and shareholder, UAE based Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), to Libya’s General Post and Telecommunications Co.
Libya ’s entry into the Thuraya consortium brings the total number of investors to 16. A Thuraya spokesman said that the company is currently in discussion with telecom concerns in India, Pakistan and Turkey
Last month Thuraya signed a $1 billion deal with US firm Hughes for the manufacture of its mobile satellite system. Thuraya’s satellite, to be launched in the last quarter of 2000, will be the region’s biggest, serving the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe, Turkey, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.