Mascom Eyes Acquisition of MTN Solutions Botswana

Mascom is controlled by Deci Investments, a Botswana based company controlled by Botswana Public Officers Pension Funds (BPOPF) whereas the other shareholder in Deci Investments, holding approximately 33.3 percent is Mobile Botswana Ltd. The other shareholder in Mascom, holding approximately 40 percent of its issued share capital is Econet Wireless Citizens is also controlled by Mobile Botswana. The other shareholder in Econet Citizens, holding approximately 17.2 percent of its issued share capital, is Econet Investments Ltd. Mobile Botswana is a 100 percent subsidiary of MTN International (Mauritius), which is in turn indirectly wholly owned by MTN Group Limited.

Acquisition notification
The proposed acquisition, in which Mascom seeks to purchase 100 percent of the issued share capital and all sale claims of MTN Botswana, has been confirmed in a statement by the Competition and Consumer Authority (CCA).

Mascom’s Existing Businesses
Mascom controls Direct Bpo (Pty) Ltd, which offers customer management services such as call center and debt collection services. Mascom’s core business in Botswana is mobile carrier operations, and it also sells a variety of products and services that are ancillary to its telecommunications network provider services.

Target enterprise
MTN Botswana, the target enterprise, is a company that offers internet services and other business solutions through a virtual private network. It is controlled by MTN Business Solutions (Pty) Ltd, a South African registered company, and does not have control over any entity in Botswana. The directors of MTN Botswana are Dipenkumar J. Patel, Jeremiah Soko, and Raphael Refiloe Sekhoto.