Strive Masiyiwa

Liquid Telecom has concluded the sale of 8% of its business to CDC Group for US$180-million, valuing the pan-African telecommunications provider at $2.25-billion (about R31.9-billion).

CDC Group, formerly known as the Commonwealth Development Corporation, is a development finance institution owned by the British government. It is focused on investments in Asia and Africa.

The planned deal was first announced in December, and all conditions precedent have now been met, with the money received, Liquid Telecom said in a statement on Wednesday.

It is the largest investment by CDC Group in an African company to date.

Liquid Telecom, which is headquartered in London, was created by Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, who also founded Econet Group. It operates fibre-optic networks in 20 African countries and has fibre infrastructure spanning from Cape Town to Cairo. It acquired South Africa’s Neotel in 2017 in a R6.5-billion deal.

“Data centres are the company’s fastest growing business and it already operates some of the biggest and most sophisticated data centres on the continent,” the company said in a statement. “Liquid is expected to push more aggressively westwards into countries like Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana with its added war chest.”  — (c) 2019 NewsCentral Media