Vodafone Ghana will list on the local stock exchange once it has agreed a deal with the country’s government to restructure its debt.
Discussions with the Ghanaian government – which holds a 30% stake in Vodafone Ghana – were proving fruitful, according to the operator’s CEO Yolanda Zoleka Cuba.
“There has been some movement now and the government has shown commitment with resolving the debts. They have given us a letter of undertaking around the restructuring of the company’s debt and that’s where we are now,” she told Reuters.
Vodafone entered the market in 2008 by acquiring a 70% share in the state-owned Ghana Telecom for $900 million and rebranding the operator. The Ghanaian government held on to its 30% stake, which at the time was valued at around $1.3 billion.
However, despite continued investment from Vodafone, the unit failed to turn a profit and this has been attributed to the government neglecting to uphold its financial obligations as a minority shareholder. The state has now pledged greater support in restructuring the unit’s debt.
MTN has already listed its Ghanaian unit, having launched an IPO last month as a condition for receiving the country’s first 4G licence. While Ghana is lining up bidding for a second licence, IT Web Africa has reported Cuba as saying that Vodafone Ghana would not be able to afford a bid.
