E& (formerly Etisalat) has announced in a filing with the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) that confirms it is in the early stages of discussions with Czech PPF group.
The two multi-national operators are talking about forming a partnership to explore strategic collaboration opportunities in central and south-eastern Europe.
Any deal would not include PPF’s home market of the Czech Republic. PPF Group operates in 25 markets outside the Czech Republic across Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa.
It’s core lines of business are financial services, telecommunications, media and ecommerce and the Group is also active in real estate, biotechnology, and transportation products and services.
The operator has been on something of an acquisition spree recently, as it seeks to expand its footprint beyond the Middle East and North Africa, with Europe seemingly of significant interest.
Earlier this year, E& agreed a strategic partnership with Vodafone, increased its shareholding to 14% and took a new board seat.
That deal was accompanied with a similar rhetoric that collaboration across enterprise, procurement and technology would mutually benefit both groups.
E& has been posting positive financial results recently, with net profit increasing 7% in 2022 and analysts expecting the telco to announce another strong set of financials for first-half 2023 in the coming weeks.
In March, the company announced a restructure aimed at enabling it to drive new investments and expand overseas, with CEO Hatem Dowidar saying “We really want to up our game. We saw how the tech giants grew. We look now at their market caps and the returns they offer, and we feel jealous.”
