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According to Henrique Granadeiro
"this strategic partnership (...) aims
at developing and consolidating
our operations in the Sub-Saharan region" |
“Today we celebrate another historical milestone for PT Group: we have put into action our commitment in Africa through a partnership with Helios Investment Partners to develop our presence in the continent”. Henrique Granadeiro, Chairman of the PT Group opened the press conference that took place today in Forum Telecom, Lisbon, to announce the strategic partnership for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Helios Investment Partners, the largest independent private equity operating within this region was the partner chosen by the PT Group to create and develop a coherent and multinational telecommunications operator. This “partner has intense knowledge of the African market and has financial capacity”, said João Pedro Baptista, Board Member of PT.
The agreement, signed during the morning, establishes an initial purchase by Helios of 22% of the “African Holding”, for Euro 125 million. The new holding is going to comprise all the assets that PT currently possesses in Sub-Saharan Africa namely in Angola (Unitel, Multitel and Angolan Telephone Directory Companies), Namibia (MTC), Cape Verd (Cabo Verde Telecom and Directel Cabo Verde), São Tomé and Príncipe (Companhia Santomense de
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According to João Pedro
Baptista, the partnership
"is a positive milestone
in PT’s investment portfolio" |
Telecomunicações), Mozambique (Teledata and Telephone Directories of Mozambique), Guinea Bissau(Guinétel and Guiné Telecom), Kenya (Kenya Postel Directories) and the management contract of Mascom Wireless in Botswana.
Consolidation of the portfolio of assets, access to future financing, a boost to operational and financial competencies, strengthening of the relationship and know-how within the region and reinforcement of the multinational profile of the “African holding” are some of the key objectives pointed out by PT.
This partnership with a company of financial nature and exclusively centred in Sub-Saharan Africa mobilises the necessary resources to comply with the commitment assumed by the Executive Committee concerning the expansion of the Group in Africa. “We believe that this partnership fits perfectly in the culture of PT and we are positive as to the future because we are going to reinforce our knowledge in this important market which will be an increasing priority for PT Group”, added Henrique Granadeiro.
Babatunde Soyoye, co-founder of Helios, also sees this agreement in a positive manner and says that “we are 100% convinced that this partnership is going to be very successful”.
The African continent is a privileged space for PT Group and presented the highest growth rate in mobile subscribers between 2002 and 2006 – with a similar trend foreseen for the following years. At the end of 2006, the African continent had some 200 million mobile clients and it is foreseen that the African mobile market will maintain an annual average growth higher than 10% until 2010, registering at the end of this period around 300 million clients.
About Helios
Helios is a private equity of reference in Sub-Saharan Africa, managing an asset portfolio of over Dollar 450 million. It was founded in 2004 by Babatunde Soyoye and Temitope Lawani with the aim of following a vast range of types of investment. The founders of Helios combine experience in telecommunications and finance at international level and have a strong local know-how. The Company’s main investors are reference institutions in Africa, Europe and in the Unites States as well as government agencies.