Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV and Orange on Wednesday signed an agreement leading to Orange's acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone.
"Orange will acquire 100% of the two companies' share capital," Bharti Airtel said in a regulatory filing with the BSE.
The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around €275 million. These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Orange's subsidiaries in the Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Senegal.
The outlay for Orange for these transactions will be based on the financials of these two subsidiaries of Airtel for the fiscal year ended 31 March, 2016, and will represent the equivalent of 7.9 times Airtel's EBITDA in these two countries at this time.
Through this deal, Orange will reinforce the company's presence in Africa with two additional countries, adding almost 5.5 million customers to its mobile customer base. This acquisition marks a step forward in Orange's growth strategy and will bring the group's African footprint up to 20 countries in 2016.
The completion of these transactions remains subject to approval by the competent authorities.
