Egypt's Orascom Telecom said it made a $600 million profit from the sale of its full investment in Hutchison Whampoa's emerging market telecom unit, Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. (HTIL), a Reuters report said.
The Reuters report quoted brokers as saying that HTIL shares rose 5.66% in early trade following the news.
Orascom, the fourth-largest Arab mobile operator by market value, agreed to sell its remaining 14.2% stake in HTIL to billionaire Li Ka-shing's conglomerate flagship Hutchison and a private unit owned by Li for a total of $960 million, it said in a statement.
It bought a 19.3% stake in HTIL for $1.3 billion in December 2005.
The Reuters report said Orascom received a special cash dividend of $793 million in July after HTIL sold off its Indian mobile business, Hutch Essar, and $327 million from the sale of a 5% HTIL stake earlier this year.
Orascom said Li's private company, Yuda, would buy the remaining balance of 5% stake in HTIL.
The Reuters report further said analysts say it's a matter of time before Egypt's Orascom sells out of Hutchison Telecom, which exited India's booming market but still operates in emerging markets from Israel to Vietnam.