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Vivendi takes over Zain Africa with $12bn bid

July 8, 2009 in Mobile and Telecoms, People in ICT
France's largest entertainment group Vivendi, has reportedly taken over Zain Africa with a $12 billion bid, ending speculation regarding the future of the ailing telecoms giant.
The Monitor in Uganda reported that the move signals an ironic return for the French firm which was forced to sell its stake in its Kenyan operation after the second tech bubble burst in 2003.
The newspaper said that Vivendi which is also Europe's largest entertainment group returns as a more healthy operation keen to capture a share of the growing African telecoms market which it was forced to abandon a few years ago.
Though there was no direct confirmation from both companies and their transaction handlers, the Monitor said it's sources familiar with the transaction said it had been recently completed, clearing the way for a new owner for the local operation.
Zain Group, the Kuwaiti based mobile telecommunication company with operations in 22 countries in Middle East and Africa, has been in negotiations with Vivendi for weeks now.
The sale will mark another turning point in Kenya's second largest and oldest mobile services provider's colourful history. In Kenya Zain began life as Kenya Cellular Communications Ltd, or Kencell a joint venture between Vivendi of France and Sameer Investments of Kenya.
Sameer is controlled by Naushad N. Merali, one of Kenya's wealthiest investors and former President Daniel Arap Moi.
At the time, the shareholding in Kencell was 40 percent for Vivendi and 60 percent for Sameer, in line with regulations of the Communications Commission of Kenya. Between 2000 and 2003, Kencell grew very fast due to its high quality voice and data network.
But poor revenue and high operational costs saw Kencell post huge losses in the period between 2003and 2004. After the string of losses and stunted growth of the operator in 2005 Vivendi opted out of the venture selling off her 40 percent stake in Kencell to Celtel International. The buyout saw the operator rebrand to Celtel Kenya.
In only one year, Celtel International transformed the fortunes of the operator drastically. In 2005, the operators profitability changed by 175 percent posting profit after tax of $17million from the loss after tax of $25 million incurred during 2004. This was the first time the company has made profits. But the following year was not as profitable as the operator only managed $ 1 million. By the time operator changed hands, again, in 2008 it had stopped making its results public. Yet interestingly, although Celtel Kenya was making only modest profits the rest of Celtel operations in Africa were posting impressive results.

Thats sick!

C scoping sha, khai

samsung phone are like china phone,
they dnt accept all apps,
go gt a nokia or Sony E

afam4eva:
The cutt-off mark is 180

cool!!!

Its a school in ondo state,

a new sch, they are having probs and are nt even sure

of admitting candidates ths year,

bt it was included in the jamb brochure,
What a country

o BOY ,
IF U SEE THE KIN CROWD WEY DEY THR EHH,
Its was packd to da brim,
filled with guys n gurls of all ages,
free stuff aint to good

yes so!!

paste a direct link ,

tell us d app name,make we go download am.
what are we callin u for, money?
u go grow dada

can i gt a java screenshot app?
for taking screenshot on ma w880i?

super cool!!

Which kind?
3g,edge or ordinary gprs

Forgt zain,na mtn dey rain, lol

mayb thats d way ts supposed to be u are jst not meant to finish evri thng

It is,
because of da high-speed internet.
Ppl dnt really make video call.
D population are mostly old-fashion'd,they prefer audio calls while some dnt even knw what video calls are.

seriously?

Lmao

@Hay,ok jst tel me da name,let mi google it.

U sure?

Jst tell me da ntwrk,n i wil wrk towards it.

Hope its in java format o!

Finally!!, me too.
I need am bd.
Send am comma mail.
ebuxs@yahoo.com.

Am loving da boondocks nw.

Lmao!

Abi o!

Hmm?

m.togo.tv

@puskin,that guy that was talkn bout mobile tv wasnt lie'n o!
m.togo.tv, go n dwnld n stream live tv on ur phone.

Its da 3g or edge usb modem am aiming for.

Oboy talk betta.
No dey cal price 4me lik that, haba!