By Aziz El-Kaissouni and Maha El Dahan CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's regulator rejected a third offer by France Telecom for the outstanding shares in Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil, the Egyptian stock exchange said on Thursday. Egypt's regulator had rejected two earlier offers by the French firm, which is embroiled in a row with the Egyptian company's other main shareholder, Orascom Telecom. The spat leaves France Telecom hamstrung in its quest to expand in emerging markets while local rival Vivendi taps sales growth from Maroc Telecom and is set to strike an Africa deal with Kuwait's Zain. France Telecom confirmed it had made the new offer for Mobinil but gave no details. The stock exchange had said Orange Participations, a wholly owned subsidiary of France Telecom, submitted an obligatory offer for Mobinil's stock. "The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority has rejected the tender offer represented by Orange Participations, totally owned by France Telecom, to buy up to 100 percent of Egyptian Company for Mobile Services," also known as Mobinil, the bourse statement said. The regulator said the offer violated the principle of giving equal opportunity to all shareholders--the same reason it gave for rejecting the last France Telecom bid. An arbitration court has ruled that Orascom should sell France Telecom its stake in a holding company that owns 51 percent of Mobinil. But France Telecom rejects the assertion by Orascom and the regulator that the ruling obliges it to bid for the remaining shares in Mobinil at an equivalent price per share. The rival shareholders have differed over strategy for Mobinil, with Orascom keen to invest more heavily than the French firm, analysts said. France Telecom has said the two firms initially disagreed over Mobinil's budget and expenditure, marketing strategy and start up of 3G services. In addition to owning shares in the holding company, Orascom has a 20 percent direct stake in Mobinil. | 
