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Econet Pays $65m For Telecoms in Burundi, CAR [Ventures Africa]
[October 20, 2014]

Econet Pays $65m For Telecoms in Burundi, CAR [Ventures Africa]


(Ventures Africa Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) VENTURES AFRICA – South Africa-based Econet Wireless Group has acquired two African businesses of International telecom giant Vimpelcom Ltd in Burundi and Central African Republic for $65 million, the Bermuda incorporated Vimpelcom said on Monday, in a move seen as part of a strategic review of its assets worldwide.



The deal involves Vimpelcom’s 51.9 percent-owned subsidiary Global Telecom Holding transferring its entire 100 percent stake in Telecel Globe Limited, which owns U-COM in Burundi and Telecel CAR in Central African Republic, to Econet Wireless Global Limited. Vimpelcom’s chief financial officer Andrew Davies said of the deal “We have previously outlined our value agenda within which our operations are reviewed to assess their future value to the group. The decision to sell our operations in CAR and Burundi is a result of this process”.Owned by Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, Econet Wireless Group has operations and investments in Africa, Europe, South America and the East Asia Pacific Rim. While the group is privately held and not listed on any stock exchange, one of its subsidiaries, Listed unit Econet Wireless Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe’s largest mobile phone operator.Vimpelcom, majority-owned by Russia’s Alfa Group and Norway’s Telenor has been saddled with more than $20 billion of debt, last month the company sold its operations in Canada, having previously divested assets in Cambodia and Vietnam. The company’s biggest assets are Russia’s third-biggest phone operator, Vimpelcom, and Italy’s third-biggest mobile network operator, Wind. The sixth largest mobile network operator in the world by subscribers as of April 2012 with 214 million customers (as per December 31, 2012) in 18 countries, it also has operations in Ukraine and other former Soviet republics as well as Algeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe.

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