TE mulls all options as regards its Vodafone Egypt stake

MANSOURA, Egypt - 6 February 2020: Telecom Egypt (TE) will study all available options as regards its 45-percent share in Vodafone Egypt, Communications Minister Amr Talaat said on Thursday.

The move comes following Saudi Telecom Company (STC) bid to acquire the 55-percent stake of Vodafone Group (VOD.L) in Vodafone Egypt.

While opening a new office of Telecom Egypt in Mansoura, a city in the Delta region, about 120 km northeast of Cairo, the minister said TE is a government-owned company, assuring all company staffers that the company is not for sale.

On Wednesday, the company said it addressed the Financial Regulatory Authority to see whether the STC acquisition bid runs in line with the statute of the capital money market law 95/1992 as regards acquisition and purchase bids.

Saudi Telecom Company, the kingdom’s biggest telecom operator, has struck a preliminary deal to buy Vodafone Group’s 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt for $2.4 billion as it seeks growth in the Arab world’s most populous nation.

With 44 million subscribers and a 40% market share, Vodafone Egypt is the country’s biggest mobile operator.