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Former Orascom CFO to lead Helios Investment Partners’ bid to turn around Kenyan mobile operator.
Orange may have sold out of Kenya but its brand will remain in the market for the next year and a half, according to local press reports.
The French operator late last week announced the closure of the sale of its 70% stake in Telkom Kenya, which operates under the Orange brand.
Orange brokered the deal with private equity firm Helios Investment Partners, but the transaction saw a 10% stake pass to the Kenyan government, leaving it with 40% and Helios with 60%.
The new owners will keep the Orange brand for at least 18 months, concentrating instead on turning the mobile operator into a more effective competitor in the market, the government said at a press briefing on Friday, according to local newspaper The Star.
Orange is Kenya’s third largest mobile network operator and has a lot of ground to make up before it could be considered a threat to market leader Safaricom.
According to figures published by the Communications Authority of Kenya, Orange served just 12.4% of the country’s 37.7 million mobile customers as of the end of last year, while Safaricom claimed a 64.7% market share.
Number two player Airtel had a 19.2% share, while virtual player Equitel, which uses Airtel’s network, had a 3.7% share.
The job of turning around Orange Kenya’s fortunes will fall to Aldo Mareuse, who became chief executive of the operator this month, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Mareuse previously served as an industry advisor to Helios Investment Partners, and his employment history includes nine years as chief financial officer at Orascom.
