Egypt's stock market regulator said on Tuesday it had rejected a France Telecom offer for the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (ECMS) shares because the offer was below a court-ordered price.

The regulator did not state the price of the France Telecom bid.

Arab mobile operator Orascom Telecom said on Sunday an arbitration court had ordered it to sell its shares in ECMS, also known in Egypt by the brand name Mobinil, to France Telecom at a price equivalent to 273.26 ($48.60) Egyptian pounds per share.

The two companies went to court in 2007 over a dispute about their joint shareholding in ECMS, Egypt's largest mobile firm by subscribers. They have not given specifics of the disagreement.

France Telecom said the court order only referred to a holding company, called Mobinil Telecommunications, that has a 51 percent stake of ECMS. It said the sale of shares in the holding company should be completed by April 10.

An Orascom official said the company believed the sale of its 28.75 percent stake in the holding company would automatically trigger a France Telecom tender offer for all regular shares of ECMS.

France Telecom currently owns a 71.25 percent stake in the holding company.

Alongside its stake in the Mobinil Telecommunications holding company, Orascom also owns a separate 20 percent stake directly in ECMS. - Reuters