Airtel, Safaricom bid for Essar Kenya may be approved by December

NEW DELHI: The joint bid of Safaricom and Bharti Airtel to buy the telecom business of Essar in Kenya is likely to get the final approval of authorities by December.

yuMobile's Chief Executive Officer Madhur Taneja said that the Communications Authority (CA) in Kenya and Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has already given conditional approval to the deal.

Essar Telecom Kenya Limited, operates the yuMobile telecom service in Kenya.

As per the legal requirements, the authorities has to wait for a month for other parties to raise any objections before giving the final approval.

Taneja said the company expects the transaction to conclude during the fourth quarter of 2014.

Essar Capital, the fund manager of Essar Global Fund Ltd (EGFL), which through its portfolio company Essar Telecom Kenya Limited, operates the yuMobile telecom service in Kenya, had in August announced the signing of binding agreements with Safaricom and Airtel for sale of its telecom business in Kenya for approximately USD 120 million.

The divestment will see Safaricom take over Essar Telecom's network, IT and office infrastructure while Airtel will acquire the company's 2.7 million subscribers.