Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telco, has agreed to acquire Warid Uganda outright from Abu Dhabi-based Warid Telecom.
No financial details were disclosed but Bharti said it is planning to merge its Ugandan subsidiary Airtel, currently number two in…
Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telco, has agreed to acquire Warid Uganda outright from Abu Dhabi-based Warid Telecom.
No financial details were disclosed but Bharti said it is planning to merge its Ugandan subsidiary Airtel, currently number two in the country, with Warid Uganda, which is number four.
Commenting on the transaction, Manoj Kohli, head of Bharti’s International Business Group, said: “We are delighted at this agreement with Warid, which also happens to be the first in-market acquisition in Bharti Airtel’s history.”
According to the company, the combined entity will have a customer base of over 7.4 million and market share of more than 39%. The deal is subject to regulatory and statutory approvals.
Bharti entered the Ugandan market in 2010 when it bought 15 African mobile phone operators from Kuwait’s Zain in a US$10.7bn deal.
Uganda is currently home to five mobile operators – MTN, Airtel, UT Mobile, Warid, and Orange – with MTN being the largest one.
In November 2009, Indian conglomerate Essar Group had agreed to buy a majority stake in Warid Telecom Africa from the Abu Dhabi Group for a combined enterprise value of US$318m.
But two years later, Essar decided against finalising the acquisition of Warid’s Ugandan and Congolese operations, reportedly because certain precedents pertaining to government clearance had not been met.
