Airtel Kenya will not assume responsibility for Telkom Kenya’s debt following the completion of their merger.
Having announced in February that ownership of Telkom Kenya’s carrier, enterprise and mobile businesses would be transferred to Airtel Kenya, the two companies have clarified how the former’s debt will factor into the deal.
In a joint statement, the operators said: “The proposed transferee [Airtel] is not assuming nor does it intend to assume all the liabilities incurred in the transfer business by the proposed transferor [Telkom].” The extent of Telkom Kenya’s debt is not known, but a report in Business Daily claimed that the sum totalled “billions of shillings”.
In the same statement, the companies confirmed that “after completion of the proposed transaction, the proposed transferee [Airtel] will be renamed to reflect the joint venture of the parties”.
The statement from the two companies may have been issued in response to concerns raised last month by a committee in the Kenyan National Assembly which refused to approve the merger until more information was revealed about the proposal.
