Egypt’s OT completes sale of stake in Congo Unit

Reuters
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An Orascom Telecom Holding SAE sign sits outside the company's headquarters at Nile City Towers, in Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010. OAO VimpelCom's borrowing costs are falling to record lows, a sign investors will support higher indebtedness to fund acquisitions as the Russian mobile-phone operator buys assets from Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris. Photographer: Shawn Baldwin/Bloomberg

Cairo-based Orascom Telecom (OT) said on Monday it had signed a deal to complete the sale of its controlling 65 percent stake in a mobile phone service operator in Congo Republic for $66.6 million.

The firm said in a statement that the operation, called Libertis Telecom, had around 195,000 subscribers but it did not say with whom it had signed the deal.

This transaction will help us concentrate on our core assets in Algeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq and Bangladesh, the statement quoted OT Chairman Naguib Sawiris saying.

An OT spokesman said the deal announced on Monday was the completion of an agreement first announced on May 25 for the sale of Oasis Telecom in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Libertis Telecom in the Republic of Congo.

OT has sold stakes in a number of operations in Africa, saying it wanted to concentrate on its core operations. The firm sold Oasis for $35 million in cash in September.

At 1012 GMT, shares in OT were trading up 0.2 percent at LE 580 ($100.87). The benchmark Hermes index was up 0.7 percent.

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