Qatar Telecom (Qtel) on Thursday said that that it has received the approval from the Kuwait Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to buy the remaining 47.5 percent stake it does not already own in Kuwaiti telecom company Wataniya. The company is offering the company is offering $2.2 billion for this.

Qtel said that an offer document has been sent to Wataniya Telecom to allow its Board to review the Offer and provide a recommendation to shareholders as required by the Capital Markets Law and its Executive Regulation.

All materials pertaining to the proposed transaction are available for review on the websites of Qtel at www.qtel.qa and Wataniya Telecom at www.wataniya.com from the date of publication of the Offer Document until the end of the Offer Period, it said.

The former state monopoly, which already owns 52.5 percent of Wataniya, will pay 2.6 dinars per share, an 18 percent premium to Wataniya's last traded price, through a tender offer open to shareholders.

Qtel has been raising stakes in its subsidiaries, taking advantage of the gas-rich Gulf state's healthy financial position at a time when other large telecom firms are shying away from deals.

The company has received approval for the transaction from the Gulf state's market regulator, Capital Markets Authority (CMA), it said in a statement on Thursday.

Shares in Qtel rose 0.5 percent at 0815 GMT and are up 12 percent year-to-date.

"Increased competition and pressures on the industry from new entrants as well as incumbents will most likely erode value over time and require increasingly dynamic responses," Qtel Chairman Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud al-Thani said.

In June, Qtel agreed to double its stake in Iraq's No. 2 operator Asiacell to 60 percent for $1.47 billion, seeking to exploit rising demand for broadband.

Qtel also owns a majority stake in Omani telecom operator Nawras. It boug