Orange will keep debt under control after EE sale - CFO

PARIS (Reuters) - Orange said it plans to bring its key leverage ratio back down to around two times net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) next year by using proceeds of the sale of its British mobile unit EE. Chief Financial Officer Ramon Fernandez said on an analyst call after second-quarter results on Tuesday that the company would finish the year at roughly 2.2 times net debt to EBITDA because of the Jazztel acquisition in Spain. "Our expectation is to go back to ratio of 2 during the course of 2016 after the sale of EE and including the potential acquisition of Bharti assets in Africa," he said, referring to ongoing talks with the Indian carrier over buying four operations there. (Reporting by Leila Abboud; editing by Geert De Clercq)