Zain pays Motorola $231.4m on behalf of Saudi unit

Kuwait's Zain said on Sunday it paid SAR867.8m (US$231.4m) to Motorola on behalf of its unit Zain Saudi to cover costs related to a contract entered by the unit with the U.S. firm.

Zain said it made the payment on December 12 to alleviate financial burden from its Saudi unit and to support the company's operations, it said in a bourse statement.

Zain Saudi has not made a quarterly net profit since launching operations in 2008 and extended the maturity of a SAR9bn (US$2.40bn) Islamic loan for another 21 days last month.

According to the statement, the amount paid covers services that Motorola had provided the Zain unit in 2009 and agreed to pay at a later stage.