Court postpones Mobinil decision for a second time

The future of Egypt’s largest mobile phone operator, Mobinil, is still uncertain after the Administrative Court in Cairo postponed its judgment on the ownership of the company for a second time this month.
The court was due to settle a year-long dispute…

The future of Egypt’s largest mobile phone operator, Mobinil, is still uncertain after the Administrative Court in Cairo postponed its judgment on the ownership of the company for a second time this month.

The court was due to settle a year-long dispute between Mobinil’s two largest shareholders: France Telecom and Egypt’s Orascom Telecom.

Many Egyptian bankers had expected the court to reverse the December decision of the country’s capital markets regulator to allow France Telecom to buy out Mobinil’s minority shareholders at E£245 a share. Orascom had argued that France Telecom must offer E£273 a share.

Instead of issuing its ruling on March 27 as expected, the court said that it needed more time to review the evidence. The court had already postponed a decision from March 6 to March 27.

The Administrative Court said it would now issue its ruling on 10 April.

Mobinil shares closed at E£216 on 29 March.