Zain in Saudi Arabia appoints BSF as lead manager for forthcoming IPO

Notes and media contacts

Subscription forms will be available from Zain in Saudi Arabia at its website, BSF branches or its corporate website (www.alfransi.com), from the CMA website (www.cma.org.sa) and from the 11 receiving banks listed above.

About Zain in Saudi Arabia
Mobile Telecommunications Company Saudi Arabia (Zain in Saudi Arabia), a Saudi joint stock company under formation, is being formed to operate a mobile telecommunications business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the terms of the third mobile operating licence awarded in July 2007.

The founding shareholders comprise established Saudi and international companies including Zain Group. And upon completion of its SR7bn Initial Public Offering (IPO), the company plans to commence operations as Zain in the Kingdom in the first half of 2008. Key elements of the services are planned to include not only classic, value-added voice messaging and data services, but also to include multimedia applications, such as video calling and content services, including ring tones, sports updates, news quotes, games and facilities.

Zain in Saudi Arabia is committed to the Saudi nationals as a local company with Saudi executive managers leading the business. The company has committed itself to hire and train Saudi nationals and on operation launch day is committed to 70% of Saudisation.

As of 8 September 2007, Zain became the company's new corporate master brand name. Currently, the company is present in 7 Middle Eastern (inclusive of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and 15 sub-Saharan African countries (inclusive of the recent Ghana licence acquisition on October 22, 2007) with over 15,000 employees, providing a comprehensive range of mobile voice and data services to over 42 million active individual and business customers (as at 31 December 2007).

The Group currently operates under the Zain brand name in Kuwait, Sudan, Jordan, Iraq and Bahrain. In Lebanon the company operates as mtc-touch. The company plans to commence operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2008 under the Zain brand.

In Africa, Zain operates under the Celtel brand (www.celtel.com) currently in 14 sub-Saharan African countries namely: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Celtel is the most successful pan-African mobile network, offering telecommunications services to more people in Africa than any other network. The addition of Ghana will expand Celtel's presence to 15 countries.

The scale of Zain Group operations makes it the fourth largest mobile telecommunications company by geographic footprint covering a population of more than 490 million across contiguous markets from the Arabian Gulf to the Atlantic Ocean.

In January 2007, the Group launched ACE-an implementation strategy to realize the target of its 3x3x3 vision of becoming one of the top ten leading telecom groups in the world by 2011. ACE seeks to extract additional value from existing assets through three main thrusts: Accelerating growth in Africa; Consolidating existing assets; and Expanding into adjacent markets.

The Zain brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC and is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (Stock ticker: ZAIN). The company's market capitalisation at 31 December, 2007 exceeded $26.5bn.

About Banque Saudi Fransi:

Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) is a Saudi Arabian Joint Stock Company established by Royal Decree No. M/23 dated June 4, 1977.

The Bank is affiliated with Calyon that holds an equity interest of 31.1%. Calyon is a fully-fledged member of the Crédit Agricole Group, the second largest bank in France, and seventh amongst banks of the Euroland by total equity.

Our objective is to provide all types of commercial banking services to both domestic and international customers.

BSF aims at creating a long term and personalized partnership with all its customers, gaining loyalty through recognized banking expertise, quality of service, as well as innovative and customized financial solutions.

Our Head office is located in Riyadh and we have:
• Three Regional Offices in Jeddah, Al-Riyadh and Al-Khobar.
• 75 branches located in the major cities of the Kingdom, including Ladies Sections.
• 321 ATMs and 3827 Point of Sale (P.O.S.) terminals.
• 2266 employees as of 31st December 2007.

Over the years, BSF has demonstrated a sustainable pattern of growth that has established its current financial strength and leadership in the Saudi market, positioning the Bank as a modern and dynamic institution fully geared to meet the challenges of the future.
Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) announced a net profit of SR2,711m for the year 2007 (-9.8% compared to SR3,006m in 2006).

The total Operating Income stands at SR3,701m (SR3,939m in 2006) and earning per share at SR4.82 (SR5.34 in 2006 taking into account the increase of BSF Shares from SR337.5m to SR562.5m processed in March 2007).

The operating income in all aspects of the core activities of the Bank shows a +16% increase. Where special commission revenue increased by 14%, other components (Forex, dividend income, gains on non trading investment aggregated 508 Millions SAR reflecting a 45% increase compared to 2006 (SR350m)

The growth in Customers deposits which reached 74 Billions SAR at the end of 2007 (+19.3%) and the growth in the loan portfolio from SR51.1bn to SR59.8bn (+17%)

Saud Albawardi
Public Relations Manager
Zain in Saudi Arabia
Tel: +9661 - 216 - 2227
Fax: +9661 - 216 - 1500

Saad Al-Shamrani
Public Relations Officer
Banque Saudi Fransi
Tel: +966 1 289 1992
Fax: +966 1 289 1730

Mohammed Al-Fal
Media Consultant
FalComm
Mobile: +966 50 560 7192

Yahya Hamidaddin
Account Director
Hill & Knowlton
Tel: +966 2 652 3232 Ex. 206
Mobile:+966 50 437 7362