CAIRO: Orascom Telecom completed its demerger Tuesday and returned to the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) after having its trading on the bourse suspended since Nov. 24. According to EGX listed companies, the demerger has split Orascom Telecom (OT) into two companies, Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding, which will be listed as OTMT.CA, and Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) which will be listed as ORTE.CA. “The listing committee has approved to list the shares resulting from restructuring process for Orascom Telecom Holding (OT) and Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding,” EGX said on its official website. OT's closing price as of Nov. 24 was LE 1.73 per share. “OT issued capital pursuant to the restructuring process will be LE 3,042,500,559.60 distributed over 5,245,690,620 fully paid at a par value of LE 0.58 per share, represented in 7 issues,” according to the stock exchange. “The company's issued paid-up capital is LE 2,203,190,060.40, represented in one issue, distributed over 5,245,690,620 shares at par value of LE 0.42 per share,” EGX added. OT said it had been planning for the demerger for six months. The move was part of an internal restructuring process. Shares of the demerged company will be available for trading after the EGX publishes a “disclosure report” while also “determining its new opening price as well as the trading market by EGX trading committee,” the bourse stated. The company, which is also listed on the London Stock Exchange, also closed its trading in London at the end of November. “The Company is instructing the Bank of New York Mellon as depositary of the OTH Global Depositary Shares (GDS) to suspend the conversion of GDSs into OTH shares, and conversely any conversion of OTH shares into GDSs, as from the close of trading on the LSE on Nov. 23, 2011,” the company previously announced in a statement. OT is the biggest mobile phone company in North Africa. In the third quarter of 2011, it posted $975 million losses, which stood in contrast with its profit a year earlier. The company seemed to have a turbulent year starting with the Egyptian uprising, and followed by waves of pro-democracy protests throughout the Arab world, which subsequently affected its earnings. In early November, Khaled Bichara, executive chairman, announced he would be stepping down by the end of 2011. Orascom Telecom operates GSM networks in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Algeria and Egypt, in addition to Koryolink, North Korea's only widely distributed cell phone service. The company also has an indirect equity shareholding in Globalive Wireless Canada, and an indirect equity ownership in Telecel Zimbabwe and through its subsidiary Telecel Globe.
