Trends & Forecasts

Third-time unlucky for France Telecom Mobinil bid - appeal on the way

Followers of the problems challenging the Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil and its would-be purchaser France Telecom will be aware of the coverage Developing Telecoms has given to this long-running saga.

Having made three bids for Orascom’s remaining shares in Mobinil, it is quite clear that France Telecom is not going to give up on its ambitions; it has announced it will launch an appeal against its latest rejection in the Egyptian Supreme Court. The appeal has been confirmed by Khaled Seyam, Egypt’s Deputy Financial Regulator.

From the point of view of Egypt’s Financial Supervisory Authority, all three bids by France Telecom have been too low (the second was turned down on August 4). The situation is complicated by the fact that most other shares in Mobinil have been allotted a price, one higher than that of France Telecom’s offer of US$42.66 submitted on May 19.

This latest appeal must be ruled on within 60 days by a committee, stipulated Khaled Seyam. France Telecom must now submit a bid per share set at the price for the majority of shares - or it can provide a lower price with a valid justification acceptabile to the committee.

One wonders how many appeals and bids there will be. Quite a few, if Shrouk Diab, one of the analysts at Cairo’s Beltone Financial is right: “France Telecom is very persistent about buying Mobinil...I think France Telecom will exhaust all possible resources to get Mobinil.”

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