Africa telecoms M&A assessed at London finance and investment conference
London, UK (PRWEB UK) 6 June 2014 -- Leading merger and acquisition experts from telecom companies, investment banks and private equity funds are meeting in London for the TMT Finance & Investment Africa 2014 Conference on June 18, to discuss the latest opportunities, as deals surge across the continent. http://www.tmtfinance.com/africa
An upswing of major transactions are expected in 2014-2015 as major international mobile operators reposition portfolios, and new investors, increasingly backed by private equity, target opportunities across the continent. A number of investment opportunities are in play. For instance, French telecom operator Orange looking to exit from Kenya, Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala selling its stake in EMTS in Nigeria, and India’s Bharti Airtel, South Africa’s MTN, and the UAE’s Etisalat are all negotiating mobile tower deals.
Edwin Grummitt, Partner and Head of MEA, Analysys Mason, who will deliver a keynote speech at the conference, entitled ‘M&A in Africa: short-term drivers and expectations’, said a combination of long-heralded trends and new local opportunities are driving deals.
“The continuing march of network sharing deals, coupled with consolidation in over-crowded markets, and the acquisition of systems integrators to support operators’ convergence strategies, are all a logical and direct consequence of declining growth rates in their legacy core telecoms business,” he said.
“In parallel to these more prosaic developments, investment capital is also chasing other opportunities, including localised models for FTTx deployment, adjacent markets such as logistics and content generation – some quite novel opportunities that arise because of the unique features and constraints found in some African markets,” Grummit added.
Following the keynote, Daniel Sandelson, Partner, Clifford Chance, a leading telecom M&A adviser will chair the TMT M&A Panel, which will assess how consolidation will shape the African market, featuring heads of telecoms from Goldman Sachs International, UBS and Standard Bank, as well as regional operator Africell’s head of mergers and acquisitions.
Over 50 key speakers have been announced across the event including from Orange, Google, Millicom, Etisalat, LAP Green, Liquid Telecom, IHS Africa, Helios Towers Africa, Eaton Towers, Alcatel Lucent, BNP Paribas, IFC of the World Bank, Eaton Towers and Seacom. Session themes include Mobile Infrastructure, Nigeria Telecoms, Regulation and Emerging Markets Risk, Investing in Broadband, Private Equity, Raising Finance, Datacentres, Innovation and Mobile Money.
The conference takes place on June 18, 2014, at the Grand Connaught Rooms, Covent Garden, London. For more information, go to: http://www.tmtfinance.com/africa
Register to attend at http://www.tmtfinance.com/africa/register/
Dominic Lowndes, TMT Finance, http://www.tmtfinance.com/, +44 2078649933, [email protected]
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