Indicative bids for the sale of a Sub-Saharan African mobile operator are due this month, two sources close to the transaction have told TelecomFinance.
Citigroup and Standard Bank are advising on the sale of Leo, the Namibian unit of Orascom…
Indicative bids for the sale of a Sub-Saharan African mobile operator are due this month, two sources close to the transaction have told TelecomFinance.
Citigroup and Standard Bank are advising on the sale of Leo, the Namibian unit of Orascom Telecom-owned Telecel Globe.
The two banks had initially been hired by Orascom Telecom for a strategic review of Telecel Globe, which in addition to Namibia has subsidiaries in Burundi, the Central African Republic and Zimbabwe, but the information memorandum was never sent.
One of the sources said that teasers were only sent for the Leo sale. For now, Telecel Globe will retain the other units, at least until there is more clarity on the future of Weather Investments, the vehicle of Naguib Sawiris, who controls Orascom Telecom.
Another source not involved in the transaction suggested that Portugal Telecom had previously expressed an interest in Leo. The Portuguese company is already present in the Namibian mobile market since it owns GSM operator MTC together with state-controlled Namibia Post and Telecommunications Holding (NPTH).
Leo had 180,863 GSM subscribers as of June 2009, representing 13% of the market. Telecel Globe acquired 100% of the operator, then known as Cell One, in January 2009 for US$59m. According to one of the sources, Leo is cash flow negative and EBITDA positive.
