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Orascom Denies It’s in Talks With Russia’s VimpelCom

Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Orascom Telecom Holding SAE said it isn’t in talks with VimpelCom Ltd. after Kommersant reported that the Russian company was interested in buying a majority stake in the Egyptian operator.
The newspaper, citing two people familiar with the matter, said VimpelCom is in talks with Naguib Sawiris, the billionaire chairman of Orascom Telecom, to buy Wind Telecomunicaziono SpA, Italy’s third-largest mobile operator, and a 51 percent stake of Orascom, the biggest mobile-phone operator in the Middle East by users. Sawiris also controls Wind.
“Orascom Telecom Holding confirms that it is not part of any talks with VimpelCom,” the company said in a regulatory filing after the 2:30 p.m. close of trading in Cairo.
Orascom shares gained the most since July 27 after the Russian newspaper report, closing 1.6 percent higher at 5.13 Egyptian pounds and valuing the company at 26.9 billion pounds ($4.72 billion).
“I don’t think this statement will put an end to speculation,” Amr Elalfy, director at CI Capital Research in Cairo, said in a telephone interview. “There is no smoke without fire.”
MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s largest mobile-phone operator, ended talks to buy some of Orascom’s assets in June after the Algerian government objected to the sale of Cairo-based Orascom’s unit in that country.
The Algerian government has said that it is interested in buying the unit, known as Djezzy, although it hasn’t started talks with the Egyptian company yet.