CAIRO, GERMANY: Egypt's financial regulator said that a court ruling on Wednesday meant that a tender offer by France Telecom to buy outstanding shares of Mobinil was halted.

"The authority ... stresses that the result of that is a halt to the implementation of the purchase offer," the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority said in a faxed statement. France Telecom began the offer on Dec. 15 and it was due to end on January 14.

Egypt court backs Orascom

Meanwhile, an Egyptian court said on Wednesday it supported Orascom Telecom's appeal against the regulator's decision to approve France Telecom's offer to buy outstanding shares in Mobinil.

The French firm and Orascom have been locked in a row for control of Egyptian Company for Mobile Services, known by its brand name Mobinil.

Judge Hamdy Yassin ruled in favour of Orascom's appeal during a session in a Cairo court.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Orascom Executive Chairman Naguib Sawiris said: "We are in our country, staying in it. We are not leaving."

The decision comes one day before the end of the tender offer period for France Telecom's subsidiary Orange Participations to buy all Mobinil's outstanding shares at 245 Egyptian pounds ($44.63) each. The offer began on December 15.