Published: September 1, 2014
Kenyan telecoms company strikes deal with Airtel to buy Essar’s local business.
Kenyan telecoms company Safaricom has struck a deal to take over assets from Indian conglomerate Essar, which is exiting its Kenyan telecoms business.
Essar runs Kenya’s yuMobile network, the country’s third largest, through its Essar Telecom Kenya subsidiary. The US$120mn deal will see Safaricom acquire the network, IT and office infrastructure, while Indian telecom company Airtel will acquire yuMobile’s 2.55mn subscribers.
The deal should be wrapped up during the fourth quarter of 2014.