UAE'S Etisalat eyes majority stake in Kuwait's Zain

DUBAI, July 21 (Reuters) - Emirates Telecommunications Corp ETEL.AD is interested in buying a 51-percent stake in Kuwait's Zain Group (ZAIN.KW), the chief executive of its international unit said on Tuesday.

"We are interested in Zain as a whole given the right values ... We need to sort out the overlap in Saudi Arabia and Nigeria," Jamal al-Jarwan told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"We're looking at a 51-percent stake in Zain," he added.

Jarwan declined to comment on whether it was already talking to Zain about the possibility of taking a stake.

"We overlap with Zain in many countries, but overall we're looking at it," he said. "Zain makes a compelling story for us."

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Amran Abocar)