The board of Bharti Airtel has announced the sale of its Ghana joint venture – AirtelTigo – to the Ghana government. The outfit is however taking an impedance charge of about $25million for the transaction.
The outfits are ahead of time phases of conversations for conclusion of the business agreement for the transfer of AirtelTigo to the government of Ghana.
The proposed deal would bring about the government of Ghana getting 100% shares of Airtel Ghana Limited, also called AirtelTigo, alongside the entirety of its customers, assets and concurred liabilities.
As per a statement, Airtel is intentionally taking an impairment charge of Rs 1,841 million (Rs 184 crore).
AirtelTigo is a joint venture between ‘Airtel’ and ‘Millicom’ thus Airtel holds a non-controlling 49.95% share in AirtelTigo.
Airtel had integrated its Ghana operations with Millicom in 2017, bringing about the second biggest mobile carrier in Ghana.
The merger was endorsed by the controller subject to the condition that the Ghana government will have the alternative to get a stake in the new element in future.
However, the joint venture has fallen behind MTN and Vodafone in Ghana. Airtel has recently stated that it will take a gander at consolidation opportunities, including exit, in business sectors where it isn’t among the main two players.
As at September 30, Airtel Ghana operations had a client base of 5.1 million.
Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel’s Africa operations made a net profit of $88 million for the second quarter, down 8.3% on-year, harmed by higher net financial costs.
Notwithstanding, solidified income remained at $965 million, increasing 14.3% from corresponding quarter a year ago.
