Egypt’s Orascom Telecom drops bid to buy Wind Mobile

A subsidiary of European telecoms company Vimpelcom Ltd has withdrawn its bid to acquire control of Canada’s Wind Mobile, a surprise move that creates further uncertainty about the future of the upstart Canadian wireless company.

Orascom Telecom, an Egyptian company that is majority-owned by Vimpelcom, said on Wednesday it has dropped its application to the Canadian government for permission to take control of Wind. Orascom had initially bankrolled Wind Mobile’s operations in Canada before being bought by Vimpelcom.

Orascom said it remained interested in consolidating its interest in Wind and was working with Ottawa to this end.

The fate of Wind is being closely watched by the three big telecoms companies that dominate the Canadian market - BCE Inc., Telus Corp and Rogers Communications Inc. - and the country’s Conservative government.

The government has said it wants to see a viable fourth wireless provider in every region of the country to break the stranglehold of the big three.

It had been reviewing Orascom’s move to take over Wind for months, and Industry Minister Christian Paradis confirmed on Wednesday that the government no longer has a transaction to review.

Ownership rules changed

In January, Wind’s founder, entrepreneur Anthony Lacavera, announced plans to step down as chief executive as part of a deal that would give Orascom and parent Vimpelcom control.

Lacavera said in a statement on Wednesday that despite Orascom’s withdrawal he would “continue working with Vimpelcom toward achieving our mutual objectives.”

Vimpelcom spokesman Bobby Leach said that the company didn’t have much to add to its statement of withdrawal but “wanted to make clear that we may reapply.”

Due to previous Canadian rules restricting foreign ownership in the telecoms sector, Wind’s ownership structure is a complex web. The rules on foreign ownership were loosened for small players in 2012 to encourage competition.

Although Orascom owns a majority economic interest in Wind, it only controls a minority of the voting interest. The proposed deal would have given Orascom majority voting interest.