Indian telecoms group Bharti Airtel is reportedly in talks to acquire Telkom Kenya, in a move that would create a stronger challenger to market leader Safaricom. Reuters cites three industry sources as saying that Helios Investment Partners, which owns a 60% stake in Telkom, is looking to partly cash out of the investment. Bharti Airtel already operates in the Kenyan mobile market via its Airtel subsidiary, which held a roughly 23% share of subscribers in Q3 2018, ahead of Telkom with 9% but considerably behind Safaricom with 67%. In June last year the pair abandoned plans to merge their operations, after talks broke down over a number of issues. According to sources, the potential deal is expected to be completed by the end of this quarter.
Kenya,Airtel Kenya, Bharti Airtel, Telkom Kenya, Corporate/Financial, Wireless, Mergers/Acquisitions
15 Jan 2019
