Liquid Group snaps up Zambian telecoms company




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LIQUID Telecommunications Holdings Limited (LTHL) has snapped up Zambia’s Hai Telecommunications Ltd, with the deal now awaiting approval from Zimbabwe’s Competition and Tariff Commissions, NewsDay has established.

BY FIDELITY MHLANGA

Hai Telecommunications offers superfast internet, inter-office connectivity and leading-edge solutions to a wide range of customers in the home, business and enterprise markets in Zambia. Its customer base encompasses residential, small home officers, medium and large enterprises.

According to correspondence gleaned by NewsDay last week, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Competition Commission (Comesa) had written to Zimbabwe’s Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC) to look into the transaction.

“The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Competition Commission has received a notification in terms of article 24 of the Comesa competition regulations involving the merger between Liquid Telecommunication Holdings Limited (LTHL) and CEC Liquid Telecommunication Limited (CLT) and its subsidiary Hai Telecommunications Limited (Hai),” part of the correspondence addressed to the CTC from Comesa read.

This came after LTHL and Copperbelt Energy Corporation Plc (CEC), a Zambian electricity generation, transmission, distribution and supply company entered into a joint venture agreement on March 3, 2011. CEC together with the Liquid Telecom Group control CEC Liquid Telecommunications, another Zambian company.

LTHL currently holds 50% of the allotted and issued share capital in the target company CEC Liquid Telecommunications (CLT) and the remaining 50% held by CEC.

CLT is registered in Zambia and holds 99,99% of the allotted and issued shares in Hai Telecommunications Limited, a company also registered in Zambia.

Liquid Telecoms Zimbabwe managing director Wellington Makamure confirmed that Hai Telecommunications were now part of the group.

“Hai Telecommunications are already part of the Liquid Telecoms. Get in touch with the deputy managing director Martin Mushambadope,” he said.

Mushambadope had not responded to emailed questions sent to him by the time of going to print.

Details at hand show that CEC has agreed to sell and LTHL has agreed to purchase all of CEC’s shares in the capital of CLT being 10 000 ordinary shares with par value of one kwacha each.

The transaction is subject to various conditions including, without limitation, obtaining merger approval.

The closing of the transaction is anticipated to be sometime during the current quarter.

CLT and its subsidiary, Hai Telecommunications, are companies operating in Zambia focusing on telecommunications, multi-media and information technology industries in particular the design, development and convergence of those industries.

According to documents shown to Newsday, the parties have also submitted that CLT had constructed a fibre optic network within the main commercial centres in Zambia and also provided two international links to Zimbabwe.

LTHL is incorporated in Mauritius and is the holding company of Liquid Telecom Zimbabwe. – News Day