The Russian company Vimpel.com has been holding negotiations to buy of the assets of companies owned by the Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris. By this deal, the Russian firms aims at buying the third-largest mobile service operator in Italy, Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA and 51% shares of Egypt's Orascom Telecom, which owns mobile phone companies in Asia and Africa.
The price for "Wind" and "Orascom Telecom" is put at about US$6.5 billion. Vimpel.com will pay in cash and shares. The Russian Kommersant newspaper, Sawiris and his partners will get within the transaction 20-23% of the voting shares in Vimpel.com
"Orascom Telecom" is one of the companies owned by the Sawiris family. This company controls the largest mobile company in Egypt, "Mobinil" and the biggest mobile phone service operator in Algeria, "Orascom Telecom Algeria.". In addition, Orascom has mobile phone companies in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Lebanon, Korea, and a number of African countries.
