Egyptian Stocks Surge to Highest in Almost 7 Months on Mobinil

Egyptian shares soared to the highest level in almost seven months after France Telecom SA agreed to raise its stake in Egyptian Co. for Mobile Services.

The benchmark EGX 30 Index climbed 4.8 percent to 5,125.93 at 12:02 p.m. in Cairo, the highest intraday level since July 25. Egyptian Co., also known as Mobinil, rallied 10 percent, while its parent company Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding SAE surged 9.9 percent. The shares were earlier suspended after climbing by the daily 10 percent limit.

France Telecom will buy most of billionaire Naguib Sawiris’s stake in their mobile-phone venture Mobinil at 202.5 Egyptian pounds ($33.54) a share, the Paris-based company said in a statement today, citing a preliminary agreement. The price is 62 percent higher than the stock’s Feb. 8 close. Orascom Telecom Media has called a shareholders’ meeting on March 1 to seek approval for the transaction.

“Mobinil at more than 200 pounds changes valuations for telecoms in general,” said Ashraf Akhnoukh, senior equity sales trader at Cairo-based Commercial International Brokerage. “This is definitely creating positive sentiment and we’re seeing a domino effect on the rest of the market.”

France Telecom owns about 71 percent of Mobinil Telecom Co., the holding company that owns Mobinil, Egypt’s biggest mobile phone company by revenues and second-biggest by subscribers. France Telecom would offer the same price for Mobinil shares traded on the Cairo exchange, while Sawiris will retain a 5 percent “economic interest.”

Mobinil rose to 137.89 pounds, while Orascom Telecom Media soared to 1.44 pounds. Commercial International Bank Egypt SAE, Egypt’s biggest publicly traded lender, rose 4.6 percent to 24.36 pounds, headed for the highest close since Nov. 16.