Sale of Voda stake approved

Dar es Salaam. Business tycoon Rostam Aziz must be a happy man today after Vodacom Tanzania shareholders unanimously approved the sale of Mirambo Holdings’ stake in the company to the Vodacom Group.

This paves the way for the South African telecoms giant to take a controlling stake in the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) trading outfit.

Incorporated in Tanzania on September 11, 2002, Mirambo Holdings – which owns a 26.25 per cent stake in Vodacom Tanzania – is the investment vehicle of Mr Aziz.

Born on August 21, 1964, Mr Aziz is also a former MP for the Igunga (CCM) in Tabora Region from 1994 until his resignation from Parliament in 2011. According to Forbes Magazine, Mr Aziz was reportedly the first Tanzanian dollar billionaire in 2013, with an estimated net worth of $1 billion.

The sale of Mirambo Holdings’ stake will bring Vodacom Group’s total stake in Tanzania’s leading telecoms firm to about 75 per cent.

Shareholders believe the endorsed sale – which is still subject to approvals from the Capital Markets and Securities Authority (CMSA) and the Fair Competition Commission (FCC) – will put Vodacom Tanzania on the right path as the majority shareholder.

“I am happy that our company falls under one of the most respected telecommunication firms in Africa… We believe the shares sale will bring forth innovations – and, ultimately, more money, in the form of dividends,” one of the shareholders, Mr Dunstan Kisanga, said at the firm’s extraordinary general meeting in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

According to the Vodacom Tanzania Plc board chairman, Mr Ali Mufuruki, the approval means that upon receiving regulators’ greenlight, Vodacom Group of South Africa will be the leading shareholder in Vodacom Tanzania, with at least 75 per cent of the stake while various investors control the remaining 25 per cent.

Mirambo’s stake in Vodacom Tanzania is currently valued at more than $200 million (about Sh460 billion), but it is not yet clear how much Vodacom South Africa will pay the Tanzanian tycoon for the stake.

According to the board chairman, Mirambo Holdings and Vodacom South Africa have the mandate to agree on the share price, and the number of shares to be sold and bought.

Announcing soon after the shareholders had voted, the Vodacom Tanzania internal auditor, Mr Alvin Kajula, said 88.18 per cent of the eligible shareholders voted in favour of the sale.

In 2014, Mr Aziz sold 17.2 per cent of his stake in Vodacom Tanzania to Vodacom South Africa for a reported $240 million.

Vodacom Tanzania, which has more than 11 million active telephony subscribers, is the country’s largest mobile ’phone company – and is Vodacom Group’s second most successful operation in Africa, after its South African unit that boasts more than 23 million subscribers.