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August 2010 
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Orascom Head Considering French Telecom |
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Muazzin Mehrban, November 2009 |
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(26 November 2009)
Egyptian telecom company Orascom has declared its interest in French rival Bouygues Telecom, if its parent, Bouygues, is willing to sell, according to a Reuters report. The Egyptian company also currently operates in Algeria, Italy and Greece.
Orascom’s chairman, Naguib Sawiris, said “we would be interested if they had the intention to sell,” says the report.
Speaking on whether the merger would be beneficial, the Orascom chairman also said, “Why not? It would reinforce our presence in the Mediterranean, improve our roaming possibilities, there would be many synergies.”
However, Mr Sawiris was less confident of a merger with one of the larger telecoms – AT&T, Vodafone or Telefonica - and could see better potential in doing deals with smaller rivals.
Orascom currently owns a stake in local telecom operator Mobinil, which is coveted by France Telecom, which also owns shares.
But Mr Sawiris said that it was not ready to sell its interest unless an offer from the telecom giant was deemed fair.
In addition Orascom, which has recently been charged with owing $596.6m in outstanding tax penalties in Algeria, has said it has no intention of selling its operations there, in spite of interest from Vivendi.
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