CAIRO: Egypt's Orascom Telecom said it wil give shareholders most of the $1 billion it is gaining in its recent deal with France Telecom announced this week. The recent deal includes the majority of remaining shares of Mobinil to be purchased by France Telecom. Mobinil will retain some five percent of the company, as under Egyptian law, a foreign company cannot own 100 percent of a company, a Mobinil official told Bikyamasr.com on Wednesday evening. “We expect a big portion of that will be given out to our shareholders as dividends, and we will keep the money we need for specific business development opportunities, which are not very clear for now,” said Khaled Bishara, Chief Executive of Orascom. He also added that Mobinil will still be operated by them through a contract. Bishara explained that after the sale, Mobinil would still retain more localized representation than the country's two other mobile service operators, Vodafone and Etisalat. The deal was reportedly worth some $2 billion. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/DYmqP Tags: Dividends, France Telecom, Orascom, Shares Section: Business, Egypt, Tech
