Almarai Sells Stake in Zain KSA for $21.6 Million

Almarai Sells Stake in Zain KSA for $21.6 Million

Saudi Arabia’s Almarai, the Gulf’s largest dairy company, has sold  5.6 million shares in the Saudi unit of Zain Telecom for $21.6 million.

The dairy giant who used to own 2.5 percent of 35 million shares of Zain will sell the rest of its stake by next year.

Zain KSA eyes refinancing its debts through pledging shares to creditors, and extending the debt repayment periods to the founders, ArabNews reported.

Lately, Almarai has reported a 22.5% drop in profit in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period last year, due to the pandemic and value-added tax (VAT).

Almarai as well as other Saudi companies were hit with the double whammy of Covid and the hike of the value-added tax (VAT) which affected the purchasing appetite.