Officials of local mobile-phone firm MobiNil met Wednesday to discuss an offer by partner France Telecom to buy 100 percent of the company's shares. "The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) has given us 15 days to come to a decision," said MobiNil CEO Hassan Qabbani."To avoid any conflicts of interest, we have a list of 29 independent financial advisory offices, certified by the EFSA, from which we will choose one to evaluate the offer," said MobiNil Chairman Iskandar Shalabi. "None of them are currently advising our holding company, Orascom Telecom, or France Telecom."
The EFSA last Thursday approved an offer by France Telecom to buy MobiNil out at LE245 per share. Experts, however, expect disagreements among MobiNil board members over the proposed selling price. The two companies, they say, have begun direct negotiations with the aim of reaching a mutually-acceptable compromise.
"International arbitrators gave us the right to fully acquire MobiNil at this price," said Hisham el-Alaily, France Telecom's vice-president for Asia, Africa and the Middle East. "But we're keen on continuing our partnership."
