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French operator receives required regulatory approvals to sell Telkom Kenya to Helios Investment Partners.
Orange has completed the sale of its majority stake in Telkom Kenya, marking its exit from the African country.
The French telco announced late on Friday that it has finalised the deal it agreed with Helios Investment Partners in November last year, having received the approval of the relevant authorities.
Orange agreed to offload its 70% stake in the Kenyan telco to the Africa-focused private equity firm for an undisclosed sum. It has not commented on the value of the deal in the intervening months.
"The Africa and Middle-East region remains a strategic priority for the group," Orange said, in a short statement.
"This divestment reflects Orange’s constant focus on optimizing its portfolio of assets," it added.
Although Orange had been working on its Kenya exit for some time, it still sees the Middle East and Africa as the growth engine for the group.
Last year it set up a new holding company, Orange Middle East and Africa (OMEA), through which it will drive its ambitions in the region.
In April it entered what was then its 20th market in the region through the acquisition of Liberia’s Cellcom.
Later that month it doubled its customer base in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by buying Millicom’s operations there in a deal valued at US$160 million. And last month there were reports that a new deal with Millicom could be on the cards; Bloomberg’s sources said the two telcos were holding informal talks regarding assets in Senegal, Ghana and Chad.
