An Egyptian court has set April 10 for its final ruling on Orascom Telecom's appeal to overturn approval of a France Telecom (FTE) offer for the outstanding shares of Egyptian Co for Mobile Services, or ECMS.
"The court will give its final verdict on April 10," Orascom Telecom's lawyer, Osman Mowafi, told Zawya Dow Jones on the telephone from Cairo.
"The two parties have a week to submit any further documents in the case," Mowafi said.
France Telecom and Orascom Telecom, ECMS's two largest shareholders, have been locked in a months-long dispute over their stakes in the mobile operator. ECMS operates the Mobinil brand in Egypt.
Egypt's Financial Supervisory Authority, or EFSA, on Dec. 10 approved a 245 Egyptian pound ($44.42) share offer from France Telecom unit Orange Participations for each of the ECMS shares it doesn't yet control.
Orascom Telecom, which had called the price unfair, appealed a decision in France Telecom's favor by the EFSA, which itself had rejected France Telecom's three previous tender offers for ECMS due to what it also considered a too low price.
The court's delay Saturday was the third since it first blocked the regulator's decision on Jan. 13.
In March 2009, the Arbitration Court of the International Chamber of Commerce backed France Telecom's right to acquire the 28.75% interest in ECMS held by Orascom Telecom at a price of EGP273 per share.
