In May, we broke the story to you on how UTL was likely to be sold to a foreign company, following a fall out with the then majority shareholders.
Libya’s LAP Green Services had a majority stake of 61% while the government had just 39%, but pulled out of UTL after failed negotiations on how to bring the company back on track.
The latest we can gather is that the telecom has been taken over by Teleology Holdings, a private Equity firm based in Nigeria. There is no official statement from either parties on this.
The background to the entire story
At one point almost declared bankrupt, Uganda Telecom has had to go through numerous woes after accumulating debts in hundreds of billions.
And all efforts to raise the company out of the debt trap, including a suggestion to make it mandatory to own a UTL sim card, have not seemed to yield any fruits.
The Ugandan Government mid this year put up a revamping strategy which included sourcing for competent investors, an extension of UTL’s license for 20 more years, expansion of the telecom’s spectrum as well as giving it unlimited access to the National Backbone Infrastructure.
Therein came the reports about the potential investors with more than five companies placing in their bids. These included Afrinet Communications, Mauritius Telecom, Telecel Global, Baylis Consortium and Teleology.
As fate may have it, Teleology seems to have offered the best deal. The company is reportedly meant to “pay a non-refundable 10%” its bid amount within a month to be counted in on the acquisition.
Probably then can the firm be approved by the Uganda Communications Commission to complete the take-over bid.
Teleology is not new to telecom take overs. In July this year, the company won the bid for 9mobile, formerly known as Etisalat Nigeria, whose debt had risen beyond control.
