Essar sells Kenya telecom biz to Safaricom, Airtel for Rs 727 cr

Essar Capital, a subsidiary of Essar Group, on Saturday, said it has signed binding agreements with Bharti Airtel and Safaricom to sell its telecom business in Kenya for around $120 million (Rs 727 crore). It operates telecom business under the brand name yuMobile. Under the binding agreements, Safaricom, which is 40 per cent owned by Vodafone, will acquire Essar Telecom Kenya's network, IT and office infrastructure, and Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel will take over its subscriber base of over 2.7 million.

The companies announced the deals in March this year, and have received conditional approval from Kenya's telecom regulator in March. Essar Global Fund, which is managed by Essar Capital, and its partners had invested in the Kenyan telecoms company in 2007-08, Essar said in a statement.

Bharti Airtel, in a statement, said that Airtel Networks Kenya Limited (Airtel Kenya), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel International Netherlands BV has signed a definitive agreement with Essar Telecommunications Kenya Limited, which operates under the brand name yuMobile to acquire its over 2.7 million subscribers.

This transaction is subject to approval from Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) and is likely to be concluded by fourth quarter of 2014. This will make Airtel Kenya a stronger No 2 player in the country. It currenty has about 5 million subscribers in Kenya.