Orange buys-out Orascom s participation and rights in Mobinil (ECMS)
Almasalla, ATP News-Orange and Orascom Telecom Media and Technology (OTMT) have agreed that Orange will purchase all the shares and voting rights held directly or indirectly by OTMT in the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (ECMS), a company listed on the Egyptian stock exchange.
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ECMS operates under the Mobinil brand and is one of Egypt’s leading mobile telecom providers. This transaction will be completed through the exercise of Orange’s call option under the shareholders agreement signed by the two parties in April 2012.
The transfer of OTMT’s direct stake in ECMS will be completed as a “over the counter” transaction between the two main shareholders. The parties expect that the transaction will be finalized by the end of Q1 2015.
This overall transaction will result in the transfer of the totality of OTMT’s direct and indirect interests in ECMS to Orange for a total consideration of €209.6 million EUR. This includes OTMT’s 5% direct stake in ECMS at 280.7 EGP per share, and 28.75% of the voting rights of MT Telecom (MTT), the holding company of ECMS that is fully owned by Orange, for a consideration of 45.7 million EUR. These sums have already been provisioned in its entirety by Orange. As a result of this transaction, Orange will increase its stake in ECMS from around 94% to around 99% of the capital.
Africa and the Middle East is a key part of the Orange group’s development strategy. 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.
