By Andrei Skvarsky.
Numerous telecommunications companies are getting together for an Africa-focused conference late this month to discuss the future of buyouts in Africa’s financial technology sector and other industries in the continent as potential ways of making higher profits.
TMT Finance Africa 2019, to be held in London on November 28, is expected to bring together dozens of telcos, among them France’s Orange and Britain’s Vodafone, and various banks, including Citi and Credit Suisse.
The World Bank and South Africa’s Standard Bank, Nedbank and Rand Merchant Bank will be among participants.
“As organic growth can be slower, we’ll see telcos acquiring companies in other sectors such as fintech and digital services and technologies,” a statement from the forum’s organiser, events company TMT Finance, quoted Mohamed Dabbour, head of Africa at Luxembourg-headquartered telco Millicom, as saying.
“The fintech industry remains very fragmented and keeps on attracting a large number of companies in Africa.”
Telecom infrastructure is another promising source of revenue, according to TMT Finance. It “has enjoyed a tremendous amount of activity over the past few years and it is expected to continue to do so due to the increasing demand for data”, the statement said.
The fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and fibre-to-the-business (FTTB) technologies “gather more momentum in many African markets where fibre infrastructure is still developing” and that “datacentres, both large and small, will continue to attract investment”, the statement quoted Byron Clatterbuck, CEO of African submarine cable and fibre company SEACOM, as saying.
TMT Finance, which is headquartered in London, said South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are “among the most active” telecom markets in Africa, and that Ethiopia is opening up its telecom market to investors.
“Research suggests,” Africa Data Centres CEO Stephane Duproz said, as quoted in the statement, “that African private equity activity has remained stable over the past seven years.”
About 75 senior company executives are planned to speak at the conference.
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