CAIRO: In a step to explore the opportunities and synergies between both companies, Vodafone Egypt (VFE) and Raya Holdings (Raya) announced today Raya's acceptance, in principle, of VFE's offer to acquire 51% of Raya Telecommunication's shares for 104 MLE. (One Hundred and four million Egyptian Pounds).Both companies have entered into an exclusive negotiation to finalize a joint venture contract and a shareholding agreement. Raya Telecom has been a leading Data Operator in Egypt since 2001, with a state of the art network infrastructure nationwide, providing communication services to the corporate and consumer segments. Raya Telecom is a leading corporate services provider, and a consumer internet service provider. In addition, its partnership with British Telecom (BT), and Telekom Malaysia (TM), provides International Data Communication Services to their clients in Egypt. Chairman and CEO of Raya Holding, Medhat Khalil, said "This marks a major step forward in Raya Holding developing its ongoing relationship with Vodafone. The complementary skills and scale benefits of Vodafone and Raya working together will create a giant leap in the Egyptian telecommunication industry. Cooperation with Vodafone is inline with our strategy to grow value added and outsourced services in all our lines of business Ian Gray, CEO and managing Director of Vodafone Egypt commented " We are delighted to be working with Raya Holdings and look forward to driving synergies between the businesses and helping all the talented individuals in Raya Telecom to continue to deliver market leading solutions to the Corporate customers in Egypt . The deal was approved, in principle, by Raya Holding Board of Directors on Monday evening, and is subject to necessary regulatory clearances. It is anticipated that a contractual agreement can be signed in around 4 weeks. Agencies
