By John Irish
DUBAI (Reuters) - Kuwait's Investment Dar (TIDK.KW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the Islamic investor that bought half of British luxury carmaker Aston Martin, is considering buying into a listed U.S. telecom operator and could invest up to $800 million in the venture, a company executive said on Tuesday.
The investment firm is looking to diversify its portfolio into new sectors including energy, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications as it seeks to expand into Europe and the U.S., Adham Charanoglu, business development manager and valuation manager at the company, told the Reuters Islamic Finance Summit.
Investment Dar, which bought London's Grosvenor House Hotel last year, is mulling buying either a telecoms operator in Western Europe or the United States within a consortium, Charanoglu said, adding that Dar would look to have "influence" in the company.
"We are studying two telecom operator opportunities ... One listed company in the U.S., and one (not listed) in Western Europe," he said, declining to name the targets.
U.S. analysts said Investment Dar may be interested in Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) or Clearwire Corp (CLWR.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which have said they were looking at possible outside funding to help them build networks based on an emerging technology known as WiMax.
Both companies declined comment.
"Sprint is definitely the first name that pops into my mind," said Stanford Group analyst Michael Nelson, "Clearwire would be the other option."
Nelson said it could be a good time to invest in Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile provider, as its shares have fallen more than 40 percent in the last year amid subscriber losses from technical and customer service problems. Continued...
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