Orange to buy out Orascom in Egypt's Mobinil

Orange has announced it has entered into an agreement to buy out Orascom Telecom Media and Technology (OTMT) in the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (ECMS), which operates under the Mobinil brand.

The transfer will be made as an ‘over-the-counter’ transaction, where Orange will buy all of OTMT’s direct and indirect assets in ECMS for a total of €209.6 million. This will include a 5% direct stake in the operator, priced at Egyptian pound 280.7 per share, and the 28.75% voting rights stake held by ECMS’s holding company and Orange’s subsidiary MT Telecom (MTT) for a consideration of €45.8 million in total.

Orange said as a result its share in ECMS will increase from approximately 94% to 99%, and claimed the move reflects its Africa and Middle East focus. “Africa and the Middle East is a key part of the Orange group’s development strategy,” the telco said in a statement.

“Through this investment, Orange confirms its commitment to the Egyptian market as one of its most important assets in the region and its largest market in terms of customers. At the third quarter 2014, Mobinil had 33 million customers and recorded a 4% year-on-year growth in revenues.”

Mobinil is Egypt’s second largest operator, trailing behind Vodafone Egypt, which according to analysts Ovum as of September 2014 had some 42 million subscribers. Orange said it expects the transaction to complete within the first quarter of 2015.