Telecom Lead MEA: France Telecom announced that it has
bought 94 percent of Egyptian mobile phone company Mobinil in a tender offer.
France Telecom to pay $2 billion for Sawiris stake in Egypt
venture
In February, France Telecom reached a preliminary
agreement with Sawiris’s Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding over Egyptian
Co. for mobile services, the operator known as Mobinil.
The company executed its purchase of 93.9 million shares
of the 100 million outstanding at a pre-agreed price of 202.5 pounds each, for
a total transaction value of 19 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.15 billion).
The French group was already the biggest shareholder in
Mobinil and the acquisition will give France Telecom control of a top sector
player in a volatile but lucrative emerging market.
France Telecom bought most of the Mobinil shares it did not
already own from its local venture partner, Sawiris’s Orascom Telecom Media and
Technology.
Furthermore, Sawiris agreed to keep a 5 percent stake in
Mobinil.
Egypt is a key part of the company’s efforts to expand in
high growth emerging markets such as Africa and the Middle East.
Egypt is the Arab world’s most populous country, with
more than 80 million people. Mobile subscriptions grew by 25 percent to 91.1
million in the year to March, government figures showed, defying a sharp
economic downturn after Mubarak’s overthrow.
editor@telecomlead.com
