THEAFRICABAZAAR Staff Writer
January 13, 2016
Orange, the French telecommunication group, said on Wednesday it has signed a deal to acquire mobile network operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone from rival company, Bharti Airtel International, adding to the tally of Orange’s African deals this year.

The deal completes an effort that began six month ago when Orange signed a probable acquisition agreement to takeover Airtel’s operations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo and Sierra Leone. Negotiations for the remaining operations have failed, the companies said.

Orange group was advised by Lazard and Société Générale. Airtel was advised by Arma partners LLP.

The purchase also marks the second and third recent purchases of mobile network operations for Orange, which earlier this week announced it bought Cellcom Liberia, a privately held mobile network operator in Liberia.

The latest purchases, which gives Orange complete ownerships, and a combined revenue of around 275 million euros from the two operations, bring the company’s footprint in Africa to 20 countries.

The costs and executions of the two deals, which will be implemented in partnership with Orange’s subsidiaries in the Côte D’Ivoire and Senegal, will be based on the financials of Airtel’s two subsidiaries for the year ended March 31, 2016, and will represent the equivalent of 7.9 times Airtel’s EBITDA in these two countries at this time.

 

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