The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) decided on Sunday to postpone its decision on the acquisition of Orascom Telecom Media and Technology (OTMT) through its subsidiary, Beltone, of CI Capital Investment Bank pending the lawsuit related to the shareholders of both parties.
EFSA stated in a press release that it is awaiting the resolution of the Court of Cassation on the conflict between the Commercial International Bank (CIB) and the shareholders of CI Capital, which is owned by the bank, after the Cairo Economic Court ruled in favour of the bank.
A number of shareholders of CI Capital, the investment arm of the Commercial International Bank (CIB), have set up a lawsuit against the bank to force it into buying their shares in the company through a compulsory purchase offer, after the bank acquired the share of Naguib Sawiris when he was a major contributor to CI Capital in 2008.
The release added that the completion of the deal is tied to resolving violations related to pledges made by the main owner of OTMT, Sawiris, in 2012. Those violations were revealed during the examination of the deal documents.
Head of the EFSA Sherif Samy said that the authority is reviewing the documentation provided by OTMT on the transfer of ownership of a controlling stake to another shareholder, which obligates Sawiris to make a compulsory tender offer to buy the rest of the shares.
Samy explained that EFSA is only concerned about the violations, which can be solved once the main owner of OTMT calls for reconciliation to exempt the company from submitting the compulsory offer.
The main owner can resort to the court to object to any decisions regarding the deal, Samy said.
EFSA has announced that a violation committed by OTMT contributed to a delay in the acquisition deal. When the controlling shareholder of Beltone was dividing Orascom Telecom to Orascom Telecom and Global Telecom in 2012, he provided the EFSA with a request to exclude a compulsory bid to transfer ownership of 51.7% from Orascom Telecom owned by Wids Investment Company to OTMT Acquisition.
The CIB board agreed last Thursday to extend the order to complete the deal for a period of 15 days—starting from 12 to 26 May. This is the fourth extension to complete the deal.
OTMT also announced on Thursday evening that it received a letter from Beltone on Wednesday. The letter stated that it has submitted a pledge to the CIB to pay EGP 50m in advance to ensure its seriousness in completing the deal.
