SAfrica's Telkom sells part of Multi-Links for $52mln
Fri Apr 1, 2011 12:41pm GMT Print | Single Page [-] Text [+]


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Africa's largest telephone group Telkom said on Friday it has entered into a binding agreement with Visafone to sell part of its money-losing Nigerian unit.

South African based Telkom said Visafone will pay an enterprise value of $52 million for the mobile unit via a number of transaction steps.

The company said it will retain Multi-Links fibre network and fixed-line units in Nigeria.

"Telkom management is of the opinion that the sale of the Multi-Links' CDMA business to Visafone represents the best option available to our shareholders and Multi-Links' customers," Jeffrey Hedberg, former Acting Chief Executive Officer of Telkom said in a statement.

The Nigerian business, which was bought for $330 million three years ago and incurred a 262 million rand operating loss in the six months to end-September.

Shares in Telkom rose 1.78 percent at 37.66 rand by 1227 GMT, outpacing a 0.23 percent firmer JSE Top-40 index.