Vodafone and Raya sign contract for Raya Telecom

Raya Telecom has been a leading Data Operator in Egypt since 2001, with a state of the art network infrastructure nationwide, providing communication services to the corporate and consumer segments. In addition, its partnership with British Telecom (BT), and Telekom Malaysia (TM), provides International Data Communication Services to their clients in Egypt

Upon this contract Vodafone has acquired 51% of Raya telecom for 104 million EGP (one hundred and four million Egyptian pounds), which stands for 823,140 shares. The agreement grants Raya Holding the right to sell its remaining shares being 45.9% of Raya Telecom to Vodafone Egypt within the next two years with the same agreed value per share.

The partners have agreed on an immediate injection to Raya Telecom capital of 50 million Egyptian pounds, bringing total paid in capital to 211.4 million EGP. The capital raise will be used to strengthen the services provided by Raya Telecom by exploring the opportunities and synergies between the two companies.

Raya Telecom will continue to operate under the same name. The Board of Directors will consist of 6 non-executive members, 3 from Vodafone Egypt and 3 from Raya Holding, in addition to the Managing Director who is appointed from Vodafone.

Medhat Khalil, Chairman & CEO Raya Holding commented:
"The joint forces will be a gate for both companies to have a key role in the plan set by the Egyptian government for telecommunications. The liberalization of the telecom industry in Egypt will help us take advantage of the upcoming business opportunities and the expected dramatic growth in the data environment and increased penetration rates. We also welcome the opportunity of working with Vodafone Egypt to help provide complete Telecom and system solutions to our customers. The proceeds will be used by Raya Holding to expand our value added offerings across the board, focusing on financial sector ePayment infrastructure services and call center outsourcing services, as well as to support our geographical expansion strategy."

Ian Gray, CEO of Vodafone commented:
"It is increasingly clear that the Telecom market in Egypt is developing and it is important to develop new partnerships and relationships to bring together all the necessary skills and capabilities to provide customers with simple access to more complex services. With Raya Telecom we shall have a combination of new skills, experience and capability and this also provides a link to Raya Holding with its capabilities in Systems Integration, Call Centre services and Mobile phone retail and service''

Martin Moorhouse the new Managing Director of Raya Telecom commented:
"Telecoms today is all about partnerships, this is a chance to work together across the two groups to develop new services and new ways of doing things that will benefit the customer. The combination of Vodafone's scale will combine well with Raya's expertise to merge the internet and mobile environments giving us the opportunity to deliver new and exciting content combined with top quality corporate solutions."

Amr Abdallah, the current MD of Raya Telecom, and a member of Raya Holding's Board has resigned from Raya but has agreed to join Vodafone as a consultant to facilitate the handover process, help shape the future strategy of Raya Telecom and then developing future opportunities through convergence in the telecom market.