CAIRO: Egypt’s Orascom Telecom (OT) plunged to a 19-month low on Sunday after Algeria said the operator must settle all liabilities before the state concludes a deal to nationalize OT’s local mobile phone unit.
Orascom Telecom declined 3.6 percent to trade at LE 4.33 ($0.8) per share, its lowest price since March 17, 2009.
The firm has reluctantly agreed to negotiate terms for the nationalization of its Djezzy unit and now wants the deal concluded as quickly as possible, but the new conditions imposed by Algeria are likely to delay the process.
"The EGX30 is declining because of the Algeria news. This is the main concern of people. There is fear and uncertainty over OT," Tarek Abaza, head of trading at Naeem Brokerage, said.
"People don’t know what’s going to happen – how much the government will take (Djezzy) for. Some are saying $3 billion, some are saying $1.5 billion. People don’t know what’s going on," Abaza said.
Egypt’s index, EGX30, fell 0.4 percent to a month low of 6,670 points.
All but seven stocks were down on the 30-firm index.
Ezz Steel shed 3.1 percent, Talaat Moustafa lost 1.3 percent and Commercial International Bank edged down 0.1 percent.
Egyptian Resorts fell 3.1 percent. An Egyptian lawyer on Friday filed suit against Egypt’s prime minister and tourism minister challenging a deal that sold the real estate firm its main land holding.
