Telecom companies compete for deal of the year at Finance and Investment conference

The list of competing telecom companies for the Telecom Deal of the Year Award has been announced with over four billion dollars worth of transactions involving Qtel (twice), Etisalat and Vodafone Qatar vying for this year’s title.

The Award is being presented at the TMT Finance & Investment Middle East 2010 Conference in Doha in celebration of the outstanding transactions throughout the year by just one Middle Eastern telecom company and its investment banking advisers.

TMT Finance and Investment Middle East 2010 (www.tmtfinance.com/me), which takes place at the Sharq Village Resort in Doha from April 26-27, is the largest annual gathering of telecom and finance professionals in the region.

The conference this year is supported by Qtel Group (Ticker: QTEL.QA) as Patron, Clifford Chance, Booz&Co PricewaterhouseCoopers, Qualcomm, Qatar Airways, Denton Wilde Sapte, American Tower Corporation and Intel.

The short shortlist this year reflects the challenging financing environment over the preceding 12 months with a syndicated loan, a fixed rate bond, an Equity Capital Markets listing and an acquisition announced as the contenders.

The shortlist for Telecom Deal of the Year Middle East 2010 is:

• Qtel raises US$1.5 billon via inaugural fixed rate bond
Advisers: Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, DBS Group JPMorgan Chase & Co and Royal Bank of Scotland

• Vodafone Qatar raises US$928 million via IPO
Advisers: HSBC Bank Middle East Limited and Qatar National Bank

• Etisalat acquires majority stake of Tigo for US$155m
Adviser: Standard Chartered

• Qtel raises US$2 billion syndicated loan
Advisers: Bank of Tokyo – Mitsubishi UFJ, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, DBS Bank, RBS and Qatar National Bank

Dominic Lowndes, Editor of Telecom Deal Alert and Managing Director of BroadGroup TMT Ventures commented, “It has been an exceptionally challenging 12 months for raising financing and completing acquisitions so these deals are especially impressive. All the nominated companies and investment banks deserve recognition for completing these complex transactions in such a difficult economic climate.”

The remaining shortlists for this year’s TMT Finance Middle East Awards will be announced later this week. The other categories are: Mobile Operator of the Year; Telecom M&A Adviser of the Year; Telecom Law Firm of the Year; Telecom Debt Bank of the Year; Fixed Line Operator of the Year; Technology Provider of the Year; Software Solution of the Year; Outstanding TMT Leader of the Year (CEO); and Emerging Markets Growth Story of the Year. http://www.tmtfinance.com/me/awardsnominations/

For more information and to register for the conference visit www.tmtfinance.com/me/register