Dimension Data today announced that its R328-million offer to acquire NSE-listed AccessKenya has gone unconditional with all the pre-conditions of the offer satisfied. Dimension Data is expected to pay shareholders who accepted the offer on 6 September, at which point Dimension Data will officially become the majority owner of the company.
Dimension Data says that, as of 15 August when the offer closed, the group had received acceptances from shareholders owning 193 897 135 shares of AccessKenya. This represents approximately 89% of the 218 038 493 shares in issue.
AccessKenya also held an extraordinary general meeting on Tuesday to ask shareholders to vote on delisting AccessKenya from the NSE. The results released by AccessKenya indicate that holders of over 190 712 982 shares (99,92%) voted in favour of the resolution, with 161 075 against.
Nick Reed, MD of Internet Solutions International, says: “This transaction represents another important step in the group’s plan to be the leading provider of converged services across ICT and telecommunications to the enterprise, corporate and SME markets in East Africa.
”We are pleased that we were able to deliver value to participating shareholders and that AccessKenya will now become a part of the Dimension Data and Internet Solutions family,” he adds.
“We are particularly excited by AccessKenya’s leading edge metropolitan fibre network which covers 430km and connects over 560 buildings in the main urban centres of Nairobi and Mombasa, as well as its outstanding customer base of over 6 000 corporate leased lines.
“We look forward to integrating the AccessKenya management team and employees fully into our business and joining together its operations with those of Internet Solutions Kenya. We intend to invest further in growing the networks, customers and services.”
Jonathan Somen, AccessKenya’s MD, comments: “AccessKenya is now set to become part of one of the world’s leading data, internet and IT solutions providers. Dimension Data is wholly-owned by the Japanese NTT Group.
“The time is ripe for AccessKenya to leverage the skill set and resources within the broader group and accelerate investment in the business, and to expand the breadth, depth and scale of the solutions, service and value for money we offer to our clients.”
According to Geoffrey Gangla, MD of Pamoja Capital, the advisors to Dimension Data: “The 89% of shareholders accepting the KES14.00 offer from Dimension Data is a resounding vote of confidence in the deal. This milestone transaction is also good for customers, good for Kenya and good for the industry. The 99,92% vote in favour of the delisting resolution further reinforces the support of shareholders for the transaction.”
Gangla points out that shareholders still have time to accept Dimension Data offer.