Zain

With Intralinks, Zain was able to facilitate the largest cross continental M&A deal between Asia (Middle East) and Africa. 

The Situation

In 2009, Zain, one of the largest Telcos in the Middle East and Africa, opted to dispose of Zain Africa BV. Zain’s Group Business Development and Group Legal team began assembling thousands of documents detailing the company’s operations in 15 African countries. Invitations to examine the portfolio were to be sent to interested strategic telecommunications operators in the region.

The Problem

To ensure a smooth due diligence process, Zain needed an easy way for the business units within each country to provide information, such as financial, commercial, legal, technical, and regulatory documents, to the legal advisory team. In addition, the company wanted a virtual solution that would provide prospective buyers from around the world with easy, secure access to these materials.

The Implications

Zain’s existing content management system could only be accessed by a limited number of internal users. In addition, the security protocols and permissioning features for confidential documents that needed to be granted to 3rd parties were not available. Use of a number of intranet-based solutions on the market would have required Zain’s IT department to stitch together costly and cumbersome custom code.

The Solution

Zain was already using Intralinks as a corporate repository. Internal departments, including business development, regulatory, and legal, relied on Intralinks’ functionality and found it simple to use. Intralinks also provided the needed security, control, and scalability to support a large number of concurrent users. Knowing its financial advisors, as well as most of the financial and legal communities worldwide, were already familiar with Intralinks made Zain’s decision to use Intralinks to facilitate the sell of its assets an easy one. 

The Result

Zain’s legal advisory team had already assembled a considerable amount of documentation. They were able to quickly load and organize the data on an Intralinks Exchange, add new material from the various operations, and grant access to prospective buyers within three weeks. Interested parties were, in most cases, already Intralinks users and could employ their single Intralinks password to access the familiar platform, helping expedite the process. In June 2010, Zain announced that Bharti Airtel, Asia’s leading telecommunications service provider, had acquired its mobile operations in 15 African countries. The landmark telecommunications deal, valued at $10.7bn USD, is the largest cross continental M&A deal between Asia (Middle East) and Africa.

The Benefit

Zain continues to use Intralinks as a centralized corporate repository to manage partnerships and small M&A sell side projects. Documents are quickly and securely shared with parties around the world without the use of unsecured email.