Ivory Coast is set to sell a large chunk of its stake in Cote d’Ivoire Telecom, a company it co-owns with France Orange, as it looks to privatisation to boost much-needed economic growth.
According to Reuters, the sale will comprise over 28% of the…
Ivory Coast is set to sell a large chunk of its stake in Cote d’Ivoire Telecom, a company it co-owns with France Orange, as it looks to privatisation to boost much-needed economic growth.
According to Reuters, the sale will comprise over 28% of the entity worth 4.27bn CFA francs (US$8.9m), leaving it with a 20.47% holding. Orange’s France Cables et Radio unit owns 51% of the company.
The telecom share disposal, expected in the next few months, is part of the state’s broader strategy to sell some of its estimated 32.4bn CFA francs (US$67.9m) worth of investments across 15 companies, which include banks and a gold mine, the news agency said.
The sale could trigger a shake-up of the country’s telecommunications sector which also includes the likes of MTN Cote d’Ivoire (MTNCI), a subsidiary of South African telecom giant MTN. In December 2013 private equity firm Emerging Capital Partners announced its exit from MTNCI, an investment which gave a return of US$80m in capital.
Cote d’Ivoire Telecom or the Ivory Coast government could not be reached for commetn. Orange declined to comment.
