Announcement of Intention to Privatize and Invitation to Express Interest

N'DJAMENA, The Republic of Chad, February 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

The Government of the Republic of Chad formally announces its intention to partially privatize the Société des Télécommunications du Tchad ("Groupe SOTEL Tchad") pursuant to the terms of law 004/PR/96. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry hereby invites interested parties to express interest to acquire a majority of the shares of SOTEL

Background

One of the Government of the Republic of Chad top priorities is the restructuring of the Republic of Chad's telecommunications and ICT sector to improve the availability and quality of services available to the public, particularly as pertains to the availability and quality of internet and mobile services. In this context the Government of the Republic of Chad has decided to partially privatize Groupe SOTEL Tchad in order to strengthen the company to become a reference player in the telecommunications market, through the sale of the majority of the equity of the company.

As the only provider of fixed services, the operator of optic fibre, and as one of the three players in the mobile market, Groupe SOTEL Tchad has a key role to play in the development of the telecommunications sector in the Republic of Chad. The Government of the Republic of Chad intends that Groupe SOTEL Tchad should fulfil this role in its privatized form.

Envisaged Transaction

The Government of the Republic of Chad has the intention to partially privatize SOTEL by way of:

• Sale of 80% of the equity of Groupe SOTEL Tchad
• Augmentation of the equity capitalization by capital increase
• Retaining a minority interest for the Government of the Republic of Chad  

Expression of Interest & Prequalification

The Government of the Republic of Chad invites experienced telecommunications investors to express interest in the partial privatization of Groupe SOTEL Tchad by contacting the Advisor to the Government of the Republic of Chad as indicated below. Investors may be required to demonstrate their experience in managing telecommunications assets and financing capacity in excess of EUR 200mn if this information is not readily available from public sources. Investors may associate in consortia provided that the each consortia has a majority (+51%) investor with sufficient experience managing telecommunications assets and financial capacity as indicated above. Local economic participation is encouraged.  

Interested parties will be invited to sign a non-disclosure agreement ("NDA"). Following signature of the NDA investors will be provided further instructions on how to pre-qualify and information on the market and Groupe SOTEL Tchad in order to perform preliminary assessments of the opportunity.

Interested parties should have signed NDAs by no later than 15:00 hours Chad time on
February 21^st, 2014 in order to be included in the prequalification process.  

Advisor

The Government of the Republic of Chad has appointed Civitas Partners as its exclusive financial advisor ("Advisor") in relation to the envisaged transaction.

Additional information:

About Civitas Partners Limited

Civitas Partners is an independent financial advisory firm with substantial experience of working in Sub-Saharan Africa. It specialises in capital raising, privatization, restructuring and financing advisory for governments, state owned entities and private companies, acting as a bridge between state actors and the private sector to achieve our client's commercial goals.

Contact

Please direct all queries and expression of interest to the Advisor and to the Commission for the Privatisation of State Assets at the following email addresses:
[email protected] and [email protected]

For further information, please contact:
Bell Pottinger
Victoria Geoghegan, Nick Lambert, Katie Laird
+44(0)20-7861-3925

SOURCE The Government of the Republic of Chad