A bitter legal turf war between Egypt’s Orascom Telecom and France Telecom over the ownership of Mobinil, Egypt’s largest phone operator, ended with FT’s withdrawal of its legal actions from an Egyptian court.

The latest development closes a five-month-old lawsuit that was initiated after the Egyptian Capital Market Authority''s rejected bids of France Telecom to buy shares from minority shareholders in Mobinil, wherein Egyptian company ECMS owns 51 percent of stake, Orascom claims 28.75 percent and France Telecom has a 71.25 percent stake.

The move which is referred by OT as an "amicable gesture", undertaken to remain focused on running Mobinil, represents the latest addition to the battle.

In a statement released by OT, the company said the legal proceedings "are no longer necessary in light of recent public pronouncements by FT, which make it clear that FT has no intention of extending a public tender offer on the same terms as those contained in the Award."

Orascom in May filed an appeal to the Egyptian economic court requesting that a sale of shares in Mobinil be repealed because France Telecom had not met conditions for the deal.

The move succeeded a ruling in March by an arbitration court, backed by the International Chamber of Commerce, that Orascom should sell its stake to France Telecom for €517 million ($723m).

However, CMA effectively froze the transaction by saying that it had to take place with a tender offer to ECMS' minority shareholders and separately rejected two offers by France Telecom to the minority shareholders citing that they were too low.