New Delhi: Bharti Airtel and its African partner Safaricom hope to conclude acquisition of Essar Telecom's Kenya business by year end as they won preliminary regulatory approvals for the deal.
The Communications Authority in Kenya and Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) have already given conditional approval to the deal, said Madhur Taneja, chief executive of YuMobile, the brand under which Essar Telecom Kenya Ltd operates.
As per the legal requirements, the authorities has to wait for a month for other parties to raise any objections before giving the final approval.
Taneja said the company expects the transaction to conclude during the fourth quarter of 2014.
Essar Capital, the fund manager of Essar Global Fund Ltd (EGFL), which through its portfolio company Essar Telecom Kenya Limited, operates the yuMobile telecom service in Kenya, had in August announced the signing of binding agreements with Safaricom and Airtel for sale of its telecom business in Kenya for approximately USD 120 million.
The divestment will see Safaricom take over Essar Telecom's network, IT and office infrastructure, while Airtel will acquire the company's 2.7 million subscribers.
