South African telecoms operators MTN and Vodacom are both reportedly considering buying a stake in one of the African units recently put up for sale by Brazilian telco Oi.
The two companies are specifically looking at buying a minority stake in Unitel,…
South African telecoms operators MTN and Vodacom are both reportedly considering buying a stake in one of the African units recently put up for sale by Brazilian telco Oi.
The two companies are specifically looking at buying a minority stake in Unitel, Angola’s largest mobile operator, according to a Bloomberg report citing four people familiar with the situation.
MTN and Vodacom did not respond to a request for comment.
Oi has a 25% stake in Unitel via its 75%-owned subsidiary Africatel, which is rumoured to be valued at about US$2bn.
The Brazilian operator announced plans to sell its majority stake in Africatel, which it inherited following its merger with Portugal Telecom (PT), in mid-September.
In a stock exchange filing today, Oi reiterated that it is still seeking parties interested in acquiring those assets but, to date, there has been neither any agreement nor a proposal signed for the purpose of a sale.
The decision to sell Africatel is in line with previous comments made by former Oi CEO Zeinal Bava, who said the telco would continue to offload non-core assets to improve its financial profile and invest in growth opportunities in Brazil, which could include an acquisition of larger rival TIM Brasil.
Besides Angola, Africatel is also present in Namibia, Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe.
At the end of August, Oi was reported to be in discussions to sell its Unitel stake to fellow shareholders Isabel dos Santos and Angolan state-owned oil company Sonangol.