Etisalat, the Abu Dhabi owned telecommunications company has prepared a dual tranche US$8billion loan facility to back up its bud to acquire Maroc Telecom. Maroc Telecom is a subsidiary of French group Vivendi.

Vivendi is seeking to divest its 53% shareholdings in the Moroccan telecoms firm to reduce overall debt. Aside from Etisalat, other bidders include Qatar Telecom and KT Corp of Korea.

The majority shareholdings is priced at US$6 billion and upon acquisition, it is expected that minority shares would eventually be bought out too. This would only serve to increase the enterprise value of the company.

Etisalat is working closely with BNP Paribas through a term loan tranche and bridge loan trance. The loan would later on be financed with a bond sale. These terms were provided by bankers knowledgeable of the transaction who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Etisalat is the largest telecommunications firm in the UAE, was not immediately available for comment.