MTN and Vodacom were studying a purchase of a stake in Oi’s African businesses, according to four people familiar with the matter. MTN and Vodacom are interested in acquiring a minority stake in Unitel, Angola’s largest wireless carrier, said three of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Unitel is part of Africatel Holdings, the holding company that Oi put up for sale last month. Oi owns 75 percent of Africatel, which is valued at about 5 billion reais (R23 billion), said one of the people.
MTN and Vodacom, the largest wireless carriers in Africa, have been looking for acquisition opportunities in countries with low rates of cellular use, high economic output and large populations. A sale of its African assets would give Oi proceeds it can use to explore the acquisition of a local rival as the carrier contends with a debt load of 46.2 billion reais. Chris Maroleng, a spokesman for MTN, and Richard Boorman, a spokesman for Vodacom, declined to comment. They said their companies always looked for investment opportunities. Oi has been working on a sale of its stake in Africatel after acquiring it earlier this year as part of its merger with Portugal Telecom. The Rio de Janeiro-based company’s shareholders were also in discussions to sell its Portuguese assets to billionaire Patrick Drahi’s Altice, sources familiar with the matter said. Oi is in the middle of a dispute with the minority shareholder of Africatel, Samba Luxco, over whether the Portugal Telecom merger obligates Oi to acquire Samba Luxco’s stake. On Friday, MTN shares added 1.4 percent to R244 while Vodacom closed 1.4 percent up at R133.83. – Bloomberg