Broadband and pay-TV company Wananchi Group Holdings has secured a US$57.5m equity injection from a group of international investors.
US cable operator Liberty Global, Oppenheimer Funds and Sarona Asset Management, a Canadianbased emerging markets fund…
Broadband and pay-TV company Wananchi Group Holdings has secured a US$57.5m equity injection from a group of international investors.
US cable operator Liberty Global, Oppenheimer Funds and Sarona Asset Management, a Canadianbased emerging markets fund manager, are the newest investors. Existing shareholders East Africa Capital Partners (EACP) and Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) also took part in this round. The fresh capital went to EACP’s ATMT Fund, which shares ownership of Wananchi with ECP Fund III.
EACP is a TMT-focused VC fund manager targeting the Eastern African region. One of the partners is Mark Schneider, a co-founder of US-based UnitedGlobalCom (UGC), now part of Liberty Global. The US$100m ATMT Fund has received US$50m from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation of the US government (OPIC). The rest has been provided by private investors. The ATMT Fund has so far only invested in Wananchi. ECP is a US-based cross-sector private equity firm which has raised more than US$1.8bn to invest across Africa.
Wananchi said the new funding would support further deployment of its fibre infrastructure in Kenya, where it offers triple-play services to residential customers under the Zuku brand. It will also back the launch of DTH satellite pay-TV in 10 East African countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi and Somalia.
Bryce Fort, managing director at ECP said: “We believe Africa has tremendous growth potential in pay-TV and broadband internet. Wananchi’s cable, DTH and programming platforms make the company suited to capitalise on this growth by capturing surplus consumer demand.” Wananchi also provides VSAT services and data solutions under the SimbaNeT brand. Set up in 2007, Wananchi manages seven cable and broadband companies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Moelis & Company advised Wananchi on the new round of financing.
Turn over for Q&A with Wananchi CEO Richard Bell
