Vivendi head declines comment on Zain bid interest

AIX-EN-PROVENCE (Reuters) - Vivendi (VIV.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) chief Jean-Bernard Levy declined on Saturday to say whether the French media and telecom group was interested in acquiring the African operations of Kuwaiti telecom group Zain (ZAIN.KW: Quote, Profile, Research).

"I have no comment to make on this," Levy told Reuters on the sidelines of an economic forum in southern France.

The media has reported in recent weeks that Zain was looking to sell its African operations after receiving several offers including one from Vivendi.

Zain, whose biggest shareholder is Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund, has spent heavily to expand and operates in 23 countries in the Middle East and Africa.

It has spent more than $12 billion in Africa since 2005, including nearly $3 billion in Nigeria, and said it planned to spend up to $2 billion more on the continent this year.

However, African media have reported in recent weeks that Zain was looking to sell its African business and would study bids made by other companies if no deal was reached with Vivendi.

(Reporting by Marie Maitre and Matthieu Protard, Editing by Peter Blackburn)