France Telecom is open to making acquisitions in the three West African countries of Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo.
On the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, France Telecom´s EVP of strategy and international development, Elie Girard,…
France Telecom is open to making acquisitions in the three West African countries of Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo.
On the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, France Telecom´s EVP of strategy and international development, Elie Girard, told TelecomFinance that the French incumbent will focus this year on integrating assets, rather than major M&A.
“We’re not going to have pro-active research of targets,” he said.
But Girard added that if an opportunity emerges for an acquisition that is limited in size but with “very high strategic value for us”, this could be made.
He specifically mentioned Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo as potential areas. There is a monetary union among eight countries in West Africa (known as UEMOA), out of which France Telecom has operations in five. Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo are the remaining three countries.
“In financial terms, it is small. Not huge M&A. But it makes a lot of sense because it fills holes in the footprint,” Girard said.
Girard said that France Telecom is also looking for infrastructure sharing partnerships in Africa and partnerships for its enterprise business globally.
