Egypt's Sawiris, VimpelCom Are Said to Be in Talks on Phone Assets Merger - Bloomberg

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris is in talks to merge the bulk of his telecommunications assets with Russian mobile-phone company VimpelCom Ltd. in a transaction that could create a company worth more than $25 billion, said two people familiar with the matter.

Sawiris would become a significant minority investor in the new company, which would include his Weather Investments SpA’s 51 percent stake in Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding SAE and Italian mobile operator Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA, said the people. They declined to be identified because the talks are private.

While negotiations are progressing, the structure of a deal hasn’t been decided and an agreement may not be reached, these people said.