OTMT Eyes Telecom Assets In Libya, Syria, Yemen: Bichara

Khalid Bichara, the outgoing CEO of Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding (OTMT.CA) said that the telco mulls purchasing telecommunication assets in countries such as Libya, Syria and Yemen in case post-Arab Spring governments in those nations seek investments.

“We’re looking at some markets post Arab Spring government-owned assets,” Bichara said in an interview in London on Tuesday.

hey’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, the top official added.

OTMT 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.