Mobilink's parent company plans IPOs, mobile banking in Pakistan

[Naveed Yaseen]

CAIRO (June 24 2009): Egypt's Orascom Telecom (OT) will launch a mobile banking operation in Pakistan this month and list shares in two North African subsidiaries by early 2010, the firm's chairman and chief executive told Reuters on Tuesday. "Tunisia will happen definitely this year and Algeria, I believe, will take longer, it might happen beginning of next year," Naguib Sawiris said, adding that offers of 20-30 percent of the operations would raise cash that could be used for acquisitions.

OT said the planned mobile banking operation in Pakistan would be the first of its kind. "We are going to announce very soon, before the end of the month, we are going to launch our first real offering on mobile banking," Sawiris said.

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