Vivendi looks to participate in Africa’s mobile boom

Vivendi has made a formal offer for Zain’s Africa operations, looking to purchase a majority stake. Financial Times reports:

Vivendi has a controlling stake in Maroc Telecom, Morocco’s largest fixed-line phone and mobile operator, which also has telecoms businesses in Burkina Faso, Gabon and Mauritania. Vivendi also has a 55 per cent stake in SFR, France’s second-largest mobile operator, with Vodafone owning the remaining 45 per cent.

Vivendi “confirms its interest for acquiring a majority stake in Zain group’s telecommunications activities in Africa, in line with its clearly defined strategy of seeking growth opportunities in emerging countries”, the group said in a statement.

The deal would give Vivendi 40 million subscribers in 15 African countries.

This is an update to a previous post speculating that Orange Telecom would bid for Zain.