CAIRO, Sunday
The decision of an Egyptian appeals committee to approve France Telecom’s latest bid for Mobinil shows Egypt is prepared to protect minority interests, the Egyptian regulator said on Sunday.
Rejected
The committee on Saturday rejected Orascom Telecom’s request that the regulator scrap its decision to allow France Telecom to pay 245 Egyptian pounds ($45) for each share in Mobinil, Egypt’s largest mobile operator by subscribers.
“At the end, we are trying to implement what will achieve the public interest, what will achieve the reputation and stability of the market,” Chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) Ziad Bahaa El-Din told reporters.
The appeals committee overseeing the case is an independent body including members from the State Council, a senior official of the EFSA and a member appointed by the Ministry of Investment.
Orascom said it would challenge the committee’s decision. Orascom and France Telecom, the two main shareholders in Mobinil, took their years-long battle for control of the company to an arbitration court in 2007, which ruled the French company should buy Orascom’s stake.
The Egyptian regulator rejected three previous offers by the French company to buy the minority stake in Mobinil. The prices offered in the earlier offers were 187 pounds, 237 pounds and 230 pounds, all below the price of the arbitration ruling.
Orascom had argued France Telecom should have offered 273 pounds, equivalent to a price set by the Egyptian court last April for Mobinil shares held by Orascom through a holding company, and which the court ordered France Telecom to buy.
In May last year, France Telecom said minority shareholders of Mobinil were ready to sell stock at 230 pounds a share. Orascom Telecom could net more than $1.6 billion if it sold its 20 percent direct stake in Mobinil at 245 pounds and its stake in the holding company at 273 pounds.
Protected
Bahaa El-Din said the decision to accept France Telecom’s latest offer ensured minority interests in Mobinil were protected and that fair practice was followed. “Whoever wishes to sell for 245 pounds can do so assured that the authority offered them this protection,” Bahaa El-Din said.
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