Zain Saudi to start rights issue on Tuesday

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, July 7 (Reuters) - Zain Saudi , the kingdom's third telecom operator, said it will start a rights issue on Tuesday which will close eight days later, the firm said in a bourse statement on Saturday.

"The issuing price will be 10 Saudi riyals without a premium, keeping in mind that the shares offered are 600 million shares," the statement said.

Last month the issue prospectus stated that Saudi Arabia's Al-Rajhi Bank and Banque Saudi Fransi are among five banks underwriting a six billion riyal ($1.6 billion) rights issue from the indebted telecom operator.

Zain Saudi received regulatory approval in May to cut its share capital to 4.8 billion riyals from 14 billion, with the move aimed at eliminating some of its accumulated losses, which stood at 10.1 billion at the end of the first quarter. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif)