Russian investment company Altimo has said it will not change the price of its offer to acquire Egyptian telco Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH).
The announcement comes after Orascom’s board recommended recently that shareholders do not accept the US$0.70…
Russian investment company Altimo has said it will not change the price of its offer to acquire Egyptian telco Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH).
The announcement comes after Orascom’s board recommended recently that shareholders do not accept the US$0.70 per share offer.
OTH had argued its case using a report prepared by independent adviser HC Securities and Investments, which, the board said, found “a fair value for OTH share of US$0.86 per share (…); hence we see that the offer price is below the fair value of the share by 18.7%”.
A banker following the situation suggested that although Altimo’s offer is not high, shareholders might want to exit Orascom now because of low share liquidity.
Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s Altimo, via its Baskindale subsidiary, had launched the cash offer to acquire 100% of OTH in mid-April.
Russian telco VimpelCom, which controls 51.92% of OTH, announced previously it would not tender its shares in response to the offer. VimpelCom is itself 47.85%-owned by Altimo.
This means that if Altimo acquired the outstanding 48.08% of OTH for US$1.76bn, it would directly and indirectly control approximately 73% of the Egyptian telco.
Altimo, which is the telecoms investment arm of Russia’s Alfa Group Consortium, has hired EFG Hermes as M&A adviser on the transaction. Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom, as well as Zulficar & Partners are acting as legal advisers.
