Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom (OT) and CEO of Weather Investments, has announced plans to establish a new company for his corporate assets that were not part of the recent merger between VimpelCom and Weather Investments.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Sawiris said the merger deal had not included the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (MobiNil), the North Korean Corelink, Mena Marine Cables, and all Internet services.
He added that the new company, shares of which will be floated on the stock market, would be officially launched in April.
With regard to OT's Algerian affiliate, Djezzy, Sawiris said it had been agreed that VimpelCom would handle negotiations with the Algerian government over the company’s status–a move, he stressed, that served to entirely remove him from the Algerian market.
Nevertheless, the official Algerian News Agency quoted Algerian Industry Minister Mohamed Moradi as saying that talks between OT and VimpelCom would not dissuade his government from purchasing Djezzy.
Meanwhile, OT shares rose in value on the Egyptian stock exchange on Tuesday following the announcement of the merger after having been temporarily frozen during the previous trading session. OT shares rose by 5.5 percent, with total daily transactions reaching LE318.1 million.
According to the merger agreement, VimpelCom will take a 51.7-percent stake in OT and 100 percent of Italian telecom company Wind.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
