Orascom Telecom has agreed to sell Orascom Tunisia Holdings and Carthage Consortium, two companies through which it owns 50 percent of Orascom Telecom Tunisie, to Qatar Telecom (Qtel) for USD 1.2 billion. This is 6.7 times the 2009 EBITDA of Orascom Telecom Tunisie, which offers mobile phone services under the Tunisiana brand. Qtel already owns 50 percent of Tunisiana. Orascom Telecom, a subsidiary of Weather Investments, is currently in talks to sell assets to Russia's Vimpelcom, a move that would create the world's fifth biggest mobile operator. Vimpelcom announced that it gave its full support for the sale of Tunisiana to Qtel as it pursues its strategy of exerting full operational control over its core assets. The proceeds of the sale will be used in part to repay Orascom Telecom's debt, thereby reducing the amount of debt that Vimpelcom will have to refinance as part of its merger with Orascom's.
