MTN not happy about Rain’s proposal to its takeover target Telkom South Africa
Telkom South Africa has received an offer from Rain in mid-September for Telkom to acquire Rain in exchange for shares. Telkom’s board is assessing the non-binding suggestion and will not comment.
Telkom SA has fixed and mobile operations ini 38 countries across Africa, and is majority owned (just over 70%, directly and indirectly) by the South African government.
Rain was launched in 2019, starting with data-only services using its own towers and leasing infrastructure from Vodafone and MTN.
The proposed single entity would gain network and spectrum assets from such an agreement.
Mobile operator Rain, which is one of the country’s smallest, first made a move in August, when it published a statement saying it had proposed a merger with Telkom.
However, Rain was obliged to withdraw it following a reprimand by the Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) for not using the right protocol.
Rain’s interest in being absorbed into Telkom emerged after MTN made it known it was considering putting in an offer to acquire Telkom in July.
MTN Group is the largest telecoms service provider group in Africa and also has opcos in some Asian countries.
MTN has now written to Telkom that it could withdraw its takeover offer if Telkom proceeds with Rain.
Telkom’s board is mulling it options.