Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) received an acquisition offer from Cyprus-based firm Pascandal to buy 100% of its shares. The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) sent a letter to the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) announcing a notification from OTH that it received an offer by Pascandal limited, a subsidiary of Russia-based Altimo, to buy up to 5,246,000 shares, representing the totality of the company's assets, for $0.7 per share. EFSA is currently reviewing the acquisition offer and has ordered the EGX to publish details of the deal on its screens. OTH issued a press release Monday confirming the Sawiris Family does not have any influential shares in the company, after the acquisition of its assets by Russian telecom firm Vimpelcom in 2010. The statement confirmed that the family does not own “considerable shares in either Vimpelcom or Altimo" after exiting both in August 2012: “They are therefore not in any way connected to the acquisition deal". The statement explained that with the acquisition of OTH by Vimplecom, the company's shares were divided in two, both traded on the EGX and and the Alexandria Stock Exchange (CASE). The statement added that Naguib Sawiris does not have any intention to sell his shares or exit the company in the mean time. In February, EFSA approved an offer by Qatar National Bank to acquire the Egyptian component of National Société Générale Bank. Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) is currently also in the process of executing an acquisition operation by the Dutch based OCI NV, that will eventually lead OCI to leave the Egyptian market.
