Airtel sells Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone operations to Orange

Bharti Airtel has sold its operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone to French telecom giant Orange, the firm announced on Wednesday.

"Orange will acquire 100 percent of the two companies' share capital. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million euros. These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Orange's subsidiaries in the CA'te d'Ivoire and Senegal," the firm said in a statement here.

The completion of these transactions remains subject to approval by the competent authorities. Lazard and Societe Generale were advisors to Orange for this transaction.

Airtel was advised by Arma Partners LLP.

Through this deal, Orange will reinforce its presence in Africa with two additional countries, adding almost 5.5 million customers to its mobile customer base.

The statement said this agreement is further to the initial contract signed between Airtel and Orange in July 2015 regarding the potential acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Chad and Congo Brazzaville.

Bharti Airtel International and Eaton Towers, in Africa on October, 2015 have concluded the sale and purchase of the tower assets of Bharti Airtel Burkina Faso. With this, Airtel, concluded sales of around 9,000 telecom towers in eight African countries.

Eaton Towers had acquired 2,500 tower from Airtel in four countries -- Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Burkina Faso.