Telecoms giant, MTN Group has commenced negotiations with Nigeria’s Visafone Communications on acquiring the indigenous communication company.
A source told Businessday that the “The deal is done. We’re almost putting ink to paper.”
Although the source didn’t state how much the acquisition would cost, there were feelers that the deal has been concluded.
“We will send a holding statement at the appropriate time,” Funmilayo Onajide, a spokeswoman for MTN’s Nigerian unit in Lagos, said yesterday.
Visafone owned by business tycoon Jim Ovia was set up eight years ago to deliver voice and broadband services through mobile and fixed telecom platforms after he acquired three operators.
Johannesburg-based MTN had 59.9 million subscribers in Nigeria at the end of 2014, more than a quarter of its 223m total across 22 countries. Visafone had about 2.2m customers as of December, according to data compiled by the Nigerian communications commission.