London Stock Exchange (LSE) today welcomes Orascom Telecom Media and Technology (OTMT) to its Main Market. The company has listed Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs).

The firm was the first MENA region company to use LSE’s Admitted to Trading Only (ATT-Only) facility, and has now graduated to a full listing of GDRs on the LSE.1

To mark the listing Khaled Bichara, Chief Executive Officer of OTMT, joined Alastair Walmsley, Head of Equity Primary Markets at the LSE, to open trading in London this morning.

Alastair Walmsley, Head of Equity Primary Markets at the LSE, said:

“This listing demonstrates continued investor appetite for Egyptian companies in London. Orascom TMT will benefit from the heightened profile, unrivalled liquidity and investor access that a GDR listing on the LSE offers.”

Egyptian companies have raised £1 billion on the LSE since 2000. In the last twelve months the value of trading in Egyptian securities was £5.2 billion.

Source: London Stock Exchange

OTMT

Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding SAE may consider buying telecommunication assets in countries such as Libya, Syria and Yemen if the post-Arab Spring governments in those nations seek investments, outgoing Chief Executive Officer Khalid Bichara said.
“We’re looking at some markets post Arab Spring government-owned assets,” Bichara said in an interview in London on Tuesday. “They’ll eventually have to find a way to manage them – either they’ll tender them out for sale or they’ll get companies to manage them. We’ll be ready for that whether through investing or through management contracts.”

Cairo-based Orascom Telecom Media, whose shareholders will meet this week to vote on a 1.05 Egyptian-pound dividend, is debt-free and would be able to fund investments with bank loans, said Bichara, who was in the UK. to mark the first day of trading in the company’s global deposit receipts on the London Stock Exchange. The company, controlled by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, is looking to grow its cables business, and may sell assets of its Orascom Telecom Ventures unit, Bichara said.

Orascom Telecom Media approved its dividend after the company agreed to sell most of its stake in Egyptian Co. for Mobile Services, the operator known as Mobinil, to France Telecom SA. Orascom Telecom Media was spun off from Orascom Telecom Holding SAE earlier this year to facilitate a $6.5 billion merger between parent Wind Telecom SpA and Russia’s VimpelCom.

Source: Gulfnews.com

France Telecom · Mobinil · Naguib Sawiris · Orascom Telecom · OTMT · Vimpelcom · Wind

During its BOD meeting, Orascom Telecom Media And Technology Holding (OTMT.CA) has announced Tuesday that the company’s Managing Director Khaled Bichara has resigned and he will remain board member in the company.

The BOD has approved to appoint Karim Bichara as the new managing director but after obtaining the approvals from the company’s AGM which shall be held on June 28th and from the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA).

would like to thank Mr. Bichara for his remarkable efforts so as to have a smooth and successful split of Orascom Telecoms assets. His contribution has become the foundation stone of the company’s excellence and success.” Naguib Sawiris, the Chief Executive of Orascom Telecom (OTH), said.

Source: Amwal All Ghad

Naguib Sawiris · Orascom Telecom · OTMT

Khaled Bichara, Managing Director of Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding (OTMT), stated that OTMT would distribute most Mobinil (EMOB) deal with France Telecom proceeds to shareholders.
Bichara said, in the sidelines of company’s EGM, that OTMT would distribute more than 50 % of the deal to shareholders, adding that such step is limited to potential investments’ value study in the coming period.
He added that, this proposal will be submitted to the next AGM which will set the ratio after completing that deal.
He asserted that, this exceptional dividend attributed is due to OTMT has no credit of debts or loans.
Finally, he pointed out that he expected the deal to be finalized along with EFSA approval within a month or two at most.

Source: MSN Arabia

Mobinil · OTMT

Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding SAE investors voted to sell most of the Egyptian company’s stake in mobile-phone operator Mobinil to France Telecom SA. (FTE)

Almost 100 percent of investors voted in favor of a sale, Orascom Telecom (ORTE) Chief Executive Officer Khaled Bichara told reporters after a shareholders meeting.

Orascom, headed by billionaire Naguib Sawiris, said on Feb. 23 it would earn about 6 billion pounds ($995 million) from the sale. France Telecom reached a preliminary agreement with Sawiris to buy most of his stake for 202.5 pounds a share and will offer the same amount for Mobinil shares traded on the Egyptian Exchange, valuing the deal at about $2 billion.

The company planned to keep a 5 percent direct stake in Mobinil, or Egyptian Co. for Mobile Services.

France Telecom already owned about 71 percent of the company that controls Mobinil.

Source: Bloomberg Business Week

Mobinil · Orascom Telecom · OTMT

Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Media Technology (OTMT) said on Monday it would give shareholders much of the US$1 billion it stands to gain by selling its stake in Mobinil and keep part of it for new business opportunities.

OTMT said earlier it had reached a preliminary accord to sell most of its stake in the Egyptian telecom operator to fellow Mobinil shareholder France Telecom.

OTMT would retain a 5 percent stake in Mobinil and continue to manage the company under a contract with the French telecoms group, OTMT’s chief executive Khaled Bichara said.

OTMT would discuss the dividend with shareholders in the two months expected for the France Telecom deal to close, Bichara said.

“We expect a big portion of that will be given out to our shareholders as dividends, and we will keep the money we need for specific business development opportunities, which are not very clear for now,” he told reporters on a conference call.

Under the terms of the accord, France Telecom will buy the stake held by OTMT for LE202.5 (US$33.55) per share, netting the Egyptian company about LE6 billion.

France Telecom will then make an offer at the same price to the minority shareholders of the listed portion of Mobinil, known as ECMS, in a transaction worth up to LE5.87 billion.

Looking for business

Bichara said OTMT would continue to manage Mobinil and would retain the same number of board seats as well as 30 percent of voting rights on Mobinil’s board.

He pointed out that even after the sale, Mobinil would still have more Egyptian representation than the country’s two other local telecom operators, owned by Vodafone and Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat.

Bichara said OTMT would be looking for business opportunities in neighboring Arab countries.

“With the changes that have happened in the region, there are many countries that may do management contracts — Syria, once the situation calms down, Libya, Yemen,” he said.

“If you look at Libya, the government owns the two operators. So, for example, maybe they will decide to do like Lebanon, where the government owns the two operators but gives management contracts to two separate management companies.”

OTMT was formed from assets still controlled by Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris after he sold his stake in Orascom Telecom last year.

It has investments in Egypt, North Korea, Pakistan, Lebanon and other North African and Middle Eastern countries, in mobile companies, media and technology and cable businesses.

The number of subscribers at its North Korean mobile operator just passed 1 million, and OTMT recently renewed its mobile management license in Lebanon, Bichara said.

OTMT’s share price jumped by 9.9 percent on Monday, just short of the maximum daily 10 percent allowed under Egyptian stock market rules.

Source: Egypt.com News

Mobinil · OTMT · Sawiris

Cloud computing has been having as many ups and downs as a roller coaster. News that cloud firm Joyent is getting $75 million to go global is definitely an upswing.

The cloud is evolving, to the point that the term the cloud may soon be outdated. As multiple cloud options develop, offered by a multitude of vendors, the ecosystem that IT professionals can (and must) engage is evolving as well.

Aiming for Global Growth

As reported by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch, Joyent has won $85 million in new funding. The boost comes largely from a European venture group that includes global telecom powerhouse Telefonica. This hefty infusion will nearly quadruple the firm’s resources and is headlined as permitting it to “pursue global growth.”

The company provides a cloud computing toolkit solution, SmartDataCenter, and offers public cloud services to customers including Dell, Kamam, and LinkedIn. It is also a prime contributor to open source project SmartOS, which powers its SmartDataCenter offering.

An online listing of competitors appears to be dated or incorrect (it focuses on Ruby on Rails, not cloud services). But judging from its solutions offerings, Joyent is in the mix across a broad range of cloud provision and support services, with potential competitors ranging from Amazon to Salesforce.com.

According to Khaled Bichara of Accelero Capital, “[the firm] is providing solutions to some of the toughest problems in cloud computing, such as cloud performance, resiliency and security.” In statements, Joyent speaks of rolling out “seamlessly connected high-performance clouds.”

Source: Midsize Insider

Accelero · Cloud · Joyent

San Francisco—January 23, 2012—Joyent, a global provider of cloud computing software and services, today announced it has completed an $85 million funding round, with European group Weather Investment II providing the majority of the round. Weather II was advised by Accelero Capital, an investment and management group. Both Weather II and Accelero focus on telecommunication and related media and technology companies that clearly hold promise in the rapidly and profoundly changing telecom and enterprise markets worldwide.

Telefónica Digital, the growth arm of global telecom leader Telefónica, is also participating as a strategic investor. Cloud-based services are a key focus area for Telefónica’s new Digital unit, and Joyent’s technology expertise in this area will help Telefónica enhance its product offering.

Existing Joyent investors include El Dorado Ventures, Epic Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Intel Capital, and Liberty Global.

“We believe that Joyent’s unique approach to cloud and systems solutions provides an edge compared to other providers,” said Khaled Bichara, co-CEO of Accelero Capital. “We are delighted to make this strategic investment in a company that is providing solutions to some of the toughest problems in cloud computing, such as cloud performance, resiliency and security, thereby unleashing the full potential of the next generation of computing.”

“This investment is further proof of our ambition in the area of cloud services and is in line with our strategy of working with leaders like Joyent, which is poised to vastly improve the way computing is carried out worldwide,” said Matthew Key, Chairman & CEO, Telefónica Digital. “Joyent’s technology fits perfectly with technologies developed in-house and our cloud services model, and enables us to provide more competitive offerings to a broader range of customer segments.”

Throughout 2012 Joyent will roll out a collection of seamlessly connected high performance public clouds that serve global corporations with consistent computing services on every continent.

“Having worked with customers around the world, we see the demand for consistent global services regardless of how many countries our customers are operating in,” said David Young, CEO and founder of Joyent. “This funding will enable Joyent to build out a global compute offering to assist customers in expanding consistent software, support and services to their clients.”

Source: Joyent

Accelero · Cloud · Joyent · Weather

Cairo, November 14th, 2011: Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E (OTH) (“Company”) announced today that Khaled Bichara, Executive Chairman,  has submitted his resignation from his position as Executive Chairman and Board of Directors Member by the end of December 2011. Until this date, he will continue to assume all responsibilities of his current position.  In due course, the  board will elect the new Chairman of the Board.  The Board of OTH would like to extend their gratitude to Khaled Bichara for the tremendous efforts he has exerted over the years as an Executive Member and then Executive Chairman of the Board, and the pivotal role he played in the transformation of OTH into a leading global telecommunications company.   Ahmed Abou Doma, CEO of Orascom Telecom Holding, said: “I would like to thank Khaled for his hard work, which paved the way for a smooth integration with  VimpelCom and which will serve as a foundation to allow the company to operationally excel in the future”.

Source: Orascomtelecom.com

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Orascom Telecom hopes to complete the spin-off of businesses not included in the takeover by Vimpelcom by year-end, executive chairman Khaled Bichara told Reuters. A stake in Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil and Orascom’s North Korean operations are being spun off into a new firm, Orascom Telecom Media and Technology, under the control of Orascom’s founder Naguib Sawiris. Orascom shareholders approved the spin-off in April but Egyptian regulators then asked for changes to the balance sheet split that will serve as a basis for the demerger. The revised plan will be put to shareholders on 23 October. Some Orascom minorities have mounted a legal challenge to the plan by suing Egypt’s financial watchdog, but Bichara played down the threat. He told Reuters that the challengers hold only a tiny amount of the shares. Previous shareholder votes on the Vimpelcom deal have passed with majorities of 93 (more…)

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