ALGIERS: Algeria is sticking to its plan to nationalize Orascom Telecom’s local mobile phone unit, the finance minister said on Tuesday, after he met executives from would-be buyer Vimpelcom.
"I met a visiting Vimpelcom delegation. I cannot give you details about what we discussed," the minister, Karim Djoudi, told reporters.
Asked about the plan to nationalize the Djezzy unit, he said: "The state has expressed its position and is still sticking to that position."
Vimpelcom this year acquired Wind Telecom, Orascom Telecom’s parent company, in a $6 billion cash-and-shares deal. But it is not clear if the transaction gave the new owners control of Djezzy, Orascom Telecom’s most lucrative unit.
Before the Vimpelcom deal, Orascom Telecom was forced to agree to talks on Djezzy’s nationalization after it was hit with millions of dollars in back-tax demands from Algeria and prevented from moving its cash abroad.
Talks about the nationalization are stalled because of a dispute between the Algerian government and Djezzy’s owners about how the unit is to be valued.
