MTC 'may move global HQ to Bahrain'

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Originally Posted by Gulf Daily News

Bahrain is set to become the base for regional telecoms giant MTC Vodafone after its chief executive revealed the firm will move its headquarters here from Kuwait. Bahrain News Agency yesterday reported that MTC Vodafone chief executive Dr Ahmed Al Shatti told an Arabic newspaper the firm would transfer the headquarters for dealing with its 20 million subscribers in 21 countries to Bahrain in the first quarter of next year.
Among the reasons cited by Dr Al Shatti was what he called Bahrain's "ideal business climate" and its status as the financial centre of the Gulf region.
MTC Vodafone officials yesterday refused to comment, saying they would be making a formal announcement early next month.

source: Gulf Daily News

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Originally Posted by TradeArabia.com

Kuwait's acting communications minister said in comments published he opposed plans by Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) to move its headquarters out of Kuwait because it believes local laws deter investors.
MTC, Kuwait's largest publicly traded company, said last week it could move to the Gulf financial centres of Dubai or Bahrain, or to Amsterdam, base of its subsidiary Celtel.
Kuwait's Al Rai paper later quoted MTC deputy chairman Saad Al Barrak as saying Kuwaiti law was not investor-friendly and that Kuwait only accounted for 15 per cent of MTC's revenue, a figure that would fall to 7 percent in two years.
But acting Communications Minister Abdulwahed Al Awadhi told the daily that MTC was Kuwaiti and should stay in Kuwait.
'We do not accept these comments from Dr Barrak, because the company is close to us, and we will not be satisfied except with its development,' Awadhi said. 'We hope the firm has lots of bases in all countries in line with the operation of the parent company in Kuwait.'
In conciliatory comments, Awadhi said he had met Barrak to discuss any problems facing MTC, in which the Kuwaiti government as the biggest shareholder, with a 24.6 per cent stake.
'MTC knows it is a Kuwaiti company in origin and spirit and we hold it in esteem, but we are close to it and ... open our doors to it in overcoming the difficulties and hurdles it is facing,' Awadhi said.
Kuwait has been dragging its feet on reforms to create a more transparent stock exchange. The head of a committee appointed to draft a new bourse law said recently a version approved by the cabinet would create a toothless regulator and could undermine efforts to attract foreign investment.
Kuwaiti law imposes a 55 percent tax on foreign investors.
MTC operates in Bahrain in partnership with Britain's Vodafone Group as MTC Vodafone Bahrain. It has no presence in Dubai, but operates in six countries in the Middle East and 14 in sub-Saharan Africa.

source: Business and Trade News

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Its official, they should be done moving their HQ to Bahrain by January 2008.