Telecom network operator Bharti Airtel announced its deal with Orange to sell its mobile business in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone.
Airtel in a statement said that Orange will acquire 100 percent of the two companies’ share capital. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million euros.
The outlay for Orange for the transactions will be based on the financials of Bharti Airtel’s two subsidiaries for the year ended March 31, 2016 and will represent the equivalent of 7.9 times Airtel’s EBITDA in these two countries in Africa.
These acquisitions reflect Orange’s international development strategy. Orange aims to expand in high-potential, emerging telecom markets where the Group is not already present.
The investment in two African telecom business of Airtel will enable Orange to add almost 5.5 million customers to its mobile customer base in Africa. This acquisition will expand the Orange’s African footprint up to 20 countries in 2016.
Airtel and Orange will not be going ahead with the proposed transaction for Chad and Congo Brazzaville.
Orange reported sales of 39 billion euros in 2014. Orange has presence in 28 countries with a total customer base of 263 million customers worldwide at 30 September 2015, including 200 million mobile customers and 18 million fixed broadband customers.
Sunil Mittal promoted Bharti Airtel had over 346 million customers across its operations at the end of November 2015. The strategy of Airtel is to reduce overall debt and focus on growing telecom business. Airtel has already sold a part of its tower business in Africa.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
