Egyptian Stocks Surge to 7-Month High on Mobinil

Egyptian shares soared to the highest level in almost seven months after France Telecom SA (FTE) agreed to raise its stake in Egyptian Co. for Mobile Services.

The benchmark EGX 30 Index climbed 4.2 percent to 5,099.36 at the 2:30 p.m. close in Cairo, the highest since July 25. Egyptian Co., also known as Mobinil, rallied by the daily limit of 10 percent, while its parent company Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding SAE surged 9.9 percent. Telecom Egypt, the country’s monopoly fixed-line phone company, jumped the most since March.

France Telecom will buy most of billionaire Naguib Sawiris’s stake in their mobile-phone venture Mobinil at 202.5 Egyptian pounds ($33.54) a share, the Paris-based company said in a statement today, citing a preliminary agreement. The price is 62 percent higher than the stock’s Feb. 8 close. Orascom Telecom Media has called a shareholders’ meeting on March 1 to seek approval for the transaction.