Vodacom to take over parent’s stake in Kenyan-based Safaricom
Vodafone Group is simplifying its holdings in sub-Saharan Africa, selling a $2.6bn stake in Kenya’s Safaricom to majority-owned Vodacom. In the all-share deal, Vodafone will transfer a 35% stake in Safaricom to its Johannesburg-based unit in a deal that raises its Vodacom stake to about 70%. Bloomberg News reported the deal on Sunday. The transaction gives Vodacom greater access to products such as M-Pesa, Safaricom’s fast-growing mobile-banking service. It also concentrates Vodafone’s African holdings more fully into Vodacom, simplifying management and continuing a push by the English-based parent to tidy up its developing-markets investments. In March, Vodafone agreed to merge its unit in India with local partner Idea Cellular. "It’s a big step in terms of commitment of Vodafone to Vodacom," the South African company’s CEO, Shameel Joosub, said on a call with reporters. "Selling the asset to us does show, at least in East and southern Africa, that the assets are all under Vodacom....
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