Grace Ashiru
Vodacom Group, the largest technology company in Africa, has finished buying a 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt.The $2.738 billion transaction was announced in November and has now overcome all regulatory and procedural hurdles. Vodafone’s stake in Vodacom climbed from 60.5% to 65.1% due to the transaction.
Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom Group, called the purchase a “unique opportunity” to help the company reach its strategic goals for connectivity and financial services. Vodafone Egypt is the market leader in the Information and Communications Technology market, which is growing quickly. Vodafone Egypt’s interim solid results showed a growth of 18.6% in service revenue in local currency.
Joosub added that Vodacom would seek to leverage its financial services product roadmap, including its “super-app” approach, to accelerate Vodafone Egypt’s financial services opportunities.
The company also sees the possibility of cross-pollination between Vodafone Egypt’s software factory and its big data capabilities, in addition to the likelihood of scaling pan-African enterprise and Internet of Things solutions through closer cooperation between the two companies.
Vodacom says that in its next quarterly trading update, which will be released on January 31, 2023, it will discuss its growth plans in the middle term.
