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Tunisie Telecom Says to List in Paris and Tunis | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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TUNIS, (Reuters) – State-controlled Tunisie Telecom has begun procedures for a dual listing on the Paris and Tunis stock exchanges, the company said in a statement on Friday.

The planned initial public offerings will be the biggest in the north African country for years and are likely to raise the international profile of Tunisia’s emerging equities market.

Tunisie Telecom’s statement said documents relating to the IPOs had been lodged with the regulators of the Paris and Tunis stock exchanges.

“The lodging (of the documents) represents the first stage of the process of the company listing in Paris and Tunis, subject to market conditions and the… (regulators) giving their respective approvals on the IPO prospectus,” it said.

The statement gave no further details on the offer. The head of the Tunis stock exchange told Reuters in October that Tunisie Telecom would make a dual listing, but until now the foreign exchange had not been named.

Tunis bourse Chief Executive Mohamed Bichiou had said earlier that 20 percent of Tunisie Telecom shares would be put up for sale in the dual listing.

Tunisia’s government holds a 65 percent stake in the firm with the rest held jointly by Dubai’s TECOM Investments and Dubai Investment Group.

Bichiou said the government would put up 10 percent of Tunisie Telecom equity for the offer, and an equal share would come from the Dubai shareholders.

Two sources with knowledge of preparations for the IPO told Reuters last month that the dual listing was likely to take place in the first quarter of 2011.