[kictanet] KDN

bitange at jambo.co.ke bitange at jambo.co.ke
Mon Oct 1 08:02:26 EAT 2007


Kai,
SA Group buys Kai.  See below.



Business Report
Altech’s R500m Kenyan buy should give it access to new submarine cable
Thabiso Mochiko
411 words
28 September 2007
The Star
e1
3
English
© Copyright 2007 Independent Newspapers (UK) Limited. All rights reserved.

Johannesburg – Allied Technologies (Altech) will pay more than R500
million for a 51 percent stake in a division of Kenya’s Sameer Group,
which should give the telecommunications technology company access to an
undersea cable.
Altech, which has a war chest of R1.2 billion, has agreed to buy a
majority shareholding in Sameer’s information and communication technology
(ICT) division, which houses Kenya Data Networks (KDN), Swift Global and
Infocom.
KDN operates an extensive fibreoptic cable network and plans to expand
into Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Swift Global is an
internet service provider with operations in Kenya and Tanzania. Infocom
provides broadband internet services in Uganda.
KDN is expected to participate in the African east coast submarine link,
which will support Altech’s aggressive expansion into the telecoms arena.
Altech chief executive Craig Venter said growth opportunities in Kenya
were helped by its stable political environment.
The acquisition formed part of Altech’s strategy to become a global
company, he added.
Venter noted that the ever-changing technology environment required “equal
measures of prudence and agility”.
Altech is still on the prowl for acquisitions, but says it will not buy an
existing cellular network operator because its cellphone service provider,
Autopage, continues to grow. The firm, which resells products of Cell C,
MTN and Vodacom, now boasts 850 000 subscribers.
Altech operates in India through its satellite television decoder
manufacturer, Altech UEC. Its vehicle tracking firm, Altech Netstar, has
opened shop in Malaysia and will expand to Brazil.
In the rest of Africa, Altech operates in Rwanda, where it has been
licensed to roll out a high-speed WiMax internet network. It has
profitable operations in Nigeria through NamITech, which manufactures 60
million prepaid airtime vouchers a month for the country’s five cellular
operators.
Altech will spend R30 million to expand capacity to make credit cards for
banks and SIM cards for cellular operators.
Another R90 million acquisition, of fleet management firm ComTech, is
subject to competition commission approval.
This week Altech, which is majority-owned by JSE-listed Allied
Electronics, posted a 20 percent rise in revenue to R4 billion for the six
months to August. Interim operating profit increased by 6 percent to R306
million from a year earlier.
Altech’s shares gained 25c to R61.75 yesterday. The all share index added
0.44 percent.







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