Orascom loses bid to block telco's buying offer
By Patrick Werr |
January 4, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AN Egyptian appeals committee has rejected a request by Orascom Telecom that the regulator block France Telecom's latest bid to buy all of Mobinil shares, the regulator said over the weekend.
France Telecom subsidiary Orange Participations earlier last month offered 245 Egyptian pounds (US$44.63) for each share in Mobinil, Egypt's biggest mobile firm by subscribers. The offer began on December 15 and will end on January 14.
Egypt's Orascom and France Telecom are Mobinil's main shareholders, but neither has a majority stake. The two have been locked in an ownership dispute since 2007.
"The committee has approved the earlier decision," allowing France Telecom to go ahead with its offer, Khaled Serry Seyam, deputy chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority, said.
Orascom had argued that France Telecom should have offered 273 pounds, equivalent to a price set by an Egyptian court in April for Mobinil shares held by Orascom through a holding company, and which the court ordered France Telecom to buy.
Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper last Tuesday quoted an unnamed Orascom official as saying the company would take the battle to the courts if the appeals committee refused to block France Telecom's offer.
If market heavyweight Orascom were to sell its shares, it could net more than US$1.6 billion.
The company went to its shareholders this month to seek an extra US$800 million in capital to cover a cash shortfall pending the resolution of a dispute with the Algerian authorities over taxes at its Algerian unit Djezzy.
A sale of its Mobinil shares, however, would remove Orascom from its home market.
"For Mobinil, the decision is positive for its share price, because now there is a greater likelihood the France Telecom offer will go through," said Amr Elalfy, a telecoms analyst with CI Capital.
France Telecom subsidiary Orange Participations earlier last month offered 245 Egyptian pounds (US$44.63) for each share in Mobinil, Egypt's biggest mobile firm by subscribers. The offer began on December 15 and will end on January 14.
Egypt's Orascom and France Telecom are Mobinil's main shareholders, but neither has a majority stake. The two have been locked in an ownership dispute since 2007.
"The committee has approved the earlier decision," allowing France Telecom to go ahead with its offer, Khaled Serry Seyam, deputy chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority, said.
Orascom had argued that France Telecom should have offered 273 pounds, equivalent to a price set by an Egyptian court in April for Mobinil shares held by Orascom through a holding company, and which the court ordered France Telecom to buy.
Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper last Tuesday quoted an unnamed Orascom official as saying the company would take the battle to the courts if the appeals committee refused to block France Telecom's offer.
If market heavyweight Orascom were to sell its shares, it could net more than US$1.6 billion.
The company went to its shareholders this month to seek an extra US$800 million in capital to cover a cash shortfall pending the resolution of a dispute with the Algerian authorities over taxes at its Algerian unit Djezzy.
A sale of its Mobinil shares, however, would remove Orascom from its home market.
"For Mobinil, the decision is positive for its share price, because now there is a greater likelihood the France Telecom offer will go through," said Amr Elalfy, a telecoms analyst with CI Capital.
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