Saga Africa Holdings has completed its acquisition of Millicom’s Tigo Senegal operations.
The deal first became public in July 2017. Millicom had previously agreed to sell the subsidiary to Wari Group for $129 million, but scrapped the deal among reports that Wari had missed payment deadlines.
Wari hit back against Millicom’s move with an arbitration request, which prompted Senegal’s President Macky Sall to declare that the government would rule on the case if the companies could not resolve the matter between them.
Sall has now granted approval to Saga’s acquisition of the unit due to the involvement of a number of telecoms experts in the consortium. Reportedly, it is Sall’s belief that these experts will help the unit adhere to the Plan for an Emerging Senegal initiative.
The approval was granted via a government decree, which tasked Saga with delivering power to consumers as well as pricing services competitively. Saga Africa is a consortium made up of NJJ Capital, Sofima and Teyliom Group. NJJ is controlled by Iliad founder Xavier Niel, while Sofima is controlled by Axian Group.
Tigo is Senegal’s second-largest operator, with a market share of 25%. It is only slightly ahead of Sudatel (23%), but both trail the market leader Orange which has 52%.
