CAIRO: An appeal from France Telecom ended Tuesday with Egypt's financial regulator delivering a resounding no to its attempts to purchase the remaining shares of Mobinil. A committee of three Egyptian judges “has supported the regulator’s decision to reject the bid,†Khalid Seyam, deputy head of the regular, told reports after the meeting in Cairo. The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority had previously rejected three offers made by the Paris-based company to acquire the remaining shares of Egypt's mobile operator as “too low,” saying they were less than the price set by an arbitration ruling for the majority of the company. France Telecom had been seeking to buy all outstanding shares of Mobinil for 237 Egyptian pounds ($42.75) per share, which was much lower that what the regulator was demanding. France Telecom had offered to buy a stake owned by Orascom Telecom in a holding company that owns a controlling percent of Mobinil at a higher price of 273 pounds per share. The Financial Supervisory Authority had ruled earlier that for France Telecom to buy the Orascom Telecom stake, it would also be obliged to bid for all remaining shares in Mobinil at the higher price of 273 pounds as previously stated. BM
