KUWAIT,(Reuters) – The UAE’s Etisalat which has offered to buy 46 percent of Kuwait’s telecom Zain, might agree to take responsibility for selling Zain’s Saudi unit in order for the deal to go through, a newspaper said on Thursday.

Zain’s offloading of Zain Saudi is a regulatory condition for closing the $12 billion sale, which is facing opposition from some Zain shareholders. Both operators own units in Saudi Arabia and compete for market share there.

Al-Qabas daily quoted unnamed sources as saying Etisalat “would probably take this option because so far there have been no official offers to buy Zain Saudi.”

It said Etisalat would ask the Saudi telecoms authority to give it up to six months to sell Zain Saudi, which would “facilitate the deal.”