Vodafone Qatar to launch IPO on April 12

DUBAI, March 15 (Reuters) - The Qatari unit of Vodafone Group (VOD.L) said late on Saturday it will begin the sale of its delayed initial public offering on April 12.

It did not give details of the amount to be raised through the IPO. The group, which will break the monopoly of state-controlled Qatar Telecommunications Co QTEL.QA, will announce details later on Sunday, it said in a statement.

Vodafone had planned to sell a 40-percent stake in the operator in October, but did not receive the required approvals from the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) due to difficult market conditions.

Vodafone, which won the bid for Qatar's second mobile telephone licence for $2.12 billion in December 2007, also intends to sell a 15 percent stake in the business to local institutional investors, leaving it and local partner Qatar Foundation with 45 percent.

HSBC Holding plc (HSBA.L) and Qatar National Bank QNBK.QA are advising on the sale, one of the first in the Gulf Arab region this year. (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Anshuman Daga)