Orange-owner France Telecom has taken control of Senegal’s largest mobile operator, Sonatel, by buying a further 9.87 percent stake in the operator from the Senegalese government. The purchase lifts France Telecom’s shareholding in the firm from 42.3 percent to a majority 52.2 percent. Once the transaction has been completed, the Senegalese government will remain Sonatel’s second-largest shareholder with 17.28 percent of the operator’s capital. In a statement, France Telecom said the acquisition represents a total payout of EUR209 million. The price marks a premium of 32 percent over the share price as of 7 April and 27 percent over the average share price for the last three months. The deal is expected to close during the first half of this year.

In a statement, Marc Rennard, France Telecom’s executive director of Africa, Middle East and Asia (AMEA) and chairman of Sonatel, described Sonatel as “one of the most important operators in West Africa, especially in terms of innovation and service quality.” Sonatel, which uses France Telecom’s Orange brand, had around 3.8 million customers at the end of last year and competes in Senegal against Millicom’s Tigo. France Telecom has a further 3.4 million customers in surrounding countries such as Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Meanwhile, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday that France Telecom has no plans to make a new offer for Egypt’s ECMS, the company that runs Egypt’s largest mobile operator Mobinil. “We are very comfortable with owning 51 percent of ECMS’s capital alongside other minority shareholders,” a France Telecom spokesman said. The remaining 20 percent equity interest is owned by Orascom and a free float of 29 percent. France Telecom bought out Orascom’s stake in the holding company that owns 51 percent of ECMS following a court decision earlier this week.