Telkom bids ZAR 2.7 billion for BCX

News Broadband South Africa 22 MEI 2014
Telkom bids ZAR 2.7 billion for BCX

South African operator Telkom said that it has made an offer to acquire all of ICT services provider Business Connexion Group (BCX). Under the offer, Telkom will acquire all the BCX share capital for ZAR 6.60 per share, representing a total cash consideration of approximately ZAR 2.7 billion. The offer is fully financed and represents a premium of 22 percent to the weighted average share price of ZAR 5.38 for the 60 trading days prior to BCX's cautionary announcement on 15 April.

BCX has strong capabilities in managed IT Infrastructure, including data centres and application development, Telkom said. The operator intends to strengthen and seek growth opportunities for its South African operations and to support the expansion of BCX's current footprint on the African continent.

Telkom Group CEO Sipho Maseko said Telkom believes that this acquisition will create an ICT company which will address the technology and communication needs of South African businesses nationally. According to BCX CEO Benjamin Mophatlane, this would be a significant step forward for Business Connexion as part of the company's own convergence strategy.

The proposed acquisition is in line with the global trend of IT and telecoms convergence driving the development of rapidly changing products and services and re-shaping the overall IT and telecoms business landscape. Telkom believes that its offer represents substantial value to BCX shareholders. Detailed due diligence was undertaken and completed.

Categories:

Fixed,  IT

Companies:

Business Connexion,  Telkom

Countries:

South Africa

Tags:

Data services, Hosting - cloud - data centres, IT - applications, Network operations services, Wholesale, Enterprise, M&A buyouts & divestments

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