Tunisie Telecom eyes dual listing

State-controlled Tunisie Telecom said it planned to list shares on the Paris and Tunis stock exchanges, in what will be the first offering by a Tunisian company on a European bourse.

Tunisie Telecom, the biggest fixed and mobile operator in the north African country, said that documents relating to the dual listing had been lodged with the regulators of the Paris and Tunis stock exchanges.

'The lodging of the documents represents the first stage of the process of the company listing in Paris and Tunis, subject to market conditions and the... regulators giving their approvals on the IPO prospectus,' it said.

Tunisia, a country of about 10 million people, has attracted interest from telecom investors because it has one of the most open business climates in the region and moved early into 3G mobile technology.

The initial public offering will be the biggest on the Tunis exchange in years and is also likely to raise the international profile of Tunisia's emerging equities market. The only previous foreign listing by a Tunisian firm was on Morocco's bourse.