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(Bloomberg) –
The coronavirus pandemic is hampering the efforts of Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa to have a stake in Africa’s largest fiber company.
Masiyiwa is for buyers from 20% to 34% of Liquid Telecommunications Holdings Ltd. for up to $600 million, according to 4 other people with direct knowledge of the subject. He wants the cash to repay a subsidized $375 million loan through Public Investment Corp., the continent’s largest fund manager, they said.
The PIC, which oversees the equivalent of $135 billion basically on behalf of South African officials, is calling for the challenge to be resolved until late August after granting a payment extension before this year, other people said. The loan she supported was used to finance a pay-TV company, which went bankrupt last year because Zimbabwe’s economic hardship and currency shortages prevented the company from paying its suppliers.
Read more: PIC prepares to participate in a fiber company after Deutsche loan
The founder of Econet Global Ltd., which has interests in cellular network and virtual banking operators across the continent, would prefer to sell part of his 66% stake in Liquid Telecom to promote the company’s shares to a reduction in the PIC, one said. people.
Masiyiwa hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. earlier this year to sell the stake, but discussions with potential investors began to take up positions after the Covid-19 outbreak intensified in March, other people said. Buyers sought more time to assess the economic benefits of blockades to involve the virus in African economies, they said.
Representatives of the PIC, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Econet declined to comment.
Read more: Zimbabwe’s President in the Fight Against the Economic Crisis Tycoon
Liquid Telecom operates in thirteen countries in eastern, central and southern Africa with knowledge centres in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Nairobi. It also offers microsoft Corp. cloud-based services, depending on your website. In December 2018, the UK’s progressive financing facility, CDC Group Plc, bought approximately 10% of Liquid Telecom for $180 million.
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