The board of South African wireless operator Cell C has rejected an acquisition offer from Telkom South Africa, stating that it is ‘unable and not willing to pursue any discussion’ with the fixed line incumbent. Earlier this week it was reported that Telkom was considering a ZAR13 billion (USD991 million) bid for Cell C, but TechCentral cites a statement from Mohammed Hariri, chairman of Cell C’s management board, as saying that the company has ‘already entered into legally binding agreements in terms of which it has committed to a recapitalisation transaction with, among other parties, Blue Label Telecoms.’
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, in October 2016 Blue Label Telecoms agreed to acquire 45% of Cell C via its subsidiary The Prepaid Company (TPC), though the deal was opposed by Cell C’s minority shareholder CellSAf, which filed a legal claim to block the agreement claiming it would unfairly dilute its shareholding.
