Orange-owner France Telecom may invest as much as EUR7 billion in deals across Africa and the Middle East over the next five years, according to Stephane Richard (pictured), the firm’s new CEO. In an interview with Bloomberg yesterday, Richard said that the investment would be part of a plan to double revenues from emerging markets, which currently account for about 7 percent (EUR3.3 billion) of total sales at the French firm. “A doubling of activity in five years supposes that we find EUR2 billion more in revenue,” said Richard. “If we can buy a portfolio of assets to arrive more rapidly, that’s very good. If it’s necessary to buy licenses country by country, that works also.” In terms of acquisitions, Richard added that paying multiples similar to the recent transaction between Zain and Bharti would be about 2.5 times or even three times revenue. “Therefore we have about five or six billion euros, or even seven billion euros that could be invested,” he said.

Richard took over as CEO of France Telecom on 1 March 2010 – a year earlier than originally planned – replacing Didier Lombard, who remains the company’s chairman. While Richard has ruled out pursuing large-scale acquisitions, he has indicated his interest in buying smaller telecoms assets in Africa and the Middle East. He told Bloomberg that a specific focus would be to fill gaps in West Africa, where Orange has operations in countries such as Cameroon, Senegal and Niger. “All of the countries in this zone where we aren’t at present interest us,” Richard said. “There’s logic in having a regional cluster.” He did not name any specific acquisition targets but hinted that he would consider any operations Bharti might choose to sell from the portfolio of assets it has just acquired from Zain. “It’s certain we’ll look at it [but] the ink on the deal is barely dry, so it’s not the moment for discussions.”