Vivendi Eyes Orascom Algeria

French media conglomerate Vivendi is considering a move for Orascom Telecom's Algerian unit, Reuters reports, citing French daily La Tribune. A member of Vivendi's board of directors, Mehdi Dazi, was reportedly in Algiers last Saturday to meet with local businessmen, including Issad Rebrab, the head of local group Cevital, which holds a 3% stake in Orascom Telecom Algeria.

Vivendi had a USD10.5 billion bid for Zain Group's African assets turned down, but has continued to pursue acquisitions in emerging markets as it seeks to expand its mobile operations.

The company, which also owns operations in France, Morocco and Brazil, could unite with Cevital to launch a takeover of Orascom's local subsidiary which serves more than 14 million mobile telephone customers in Algeria and reported revenue of over USD2 billion last year.