Business
Allied Technologies negotiates $60 million buyout for Kenyan Tech firm
The deal would be one of the biggest acquisitions made by a South African company in Kenya, according to Thomson Reuters data.
It would also be the second largest merger and acquisition deal in Kenya this year following East African Breweries’ US$225 million buy-back of an asset stake from SABMiller.
The deal also highlights the growth potential for IT and tech companies in Africa. Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation last year paid US$3.2 billion for South Africa’s Dimension Data to expand in emerging markets.
Altech is a diverse business whose operations include telecoms, electronics and IT services. In South Africa it is best known for its Altech Netstar unit, which tracks and recovers stolen cars.
Symphony provides IT consulting and services including hardware, software and networking. It is owned by the Da Gama Rose Group, led by prominent Kenyan businessman Horatius da Gama Rose.
Its partners include IBM, Cisco Systems, Dell Inc, General Electric Company, Microsoft Corp, China’s Lenovo Group and Huawei Technologies , according to its website.
Altech CEO Craig Venter declined to comment on the deal in an e-mailed statement to Reuters.
“As a listed company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), any announcements with regard to mergers or acquisitions are made in accordance to JSE listing requirements. As such, Altech has no comment on this matter at this time,” he said.
No one was available for comment at da Gama Rose’s office.
Altech shares gave up some gains immediately following the Reuters report, and eventually turned negative. The shares were down 1.8 percent at 51.75 rand (US$6.37), having been up as much as 2.8 percent before the news of the deal.
