Econet Group founder Strive Masiyiwa says he is considering a separate listing in 2016 for subsidiary Liquid Telecom, a major operator of fibre and business satellite services in Africa. Masiyiwa, who is the Econet Group executive chairman, said the company had decided to opt to list Liquid after spurning several multi-billion dollar offers for it. He said Econet had received several unsolicited offers for Liquid, but it wants it to remain an independent access provider of internet in Africa, The Herald reported.
Masiyiwa said it is going to raise more capital to strengthen its market leadership in this vital space. He revealed that the Econet Group had already appointed advisors for the potential listing of Liquid at one of the major European exchanges.
Liquid Telecom has been growing rapidly over the last few years, fuelled by the demand for infrastructure to support broadband internet on the African continent. The company has built a fibre optic network that spans fifteen countries from South Africa all the way to the border of South Sudan in East Africa, and now wants to move into West Africa. Liquid Telecom is an open access fibre and satellite infrastructure provider used by almost all the major mobile network providers in Africa.
