TATA LIKELY TO BID?
That’s the view of senior industry executives polled by the FM One well-placed BCX insider, however, denies there are talks with Tata.
Sources say Tata has been sniffing around SA for some time with a view to making an acquisition in the IT services market.
Tata, which is one of India’s biggest conglomerates, has identified Africa, and SA in particular, as a key growth market as it expands internationally. It is already a formidable player in SA’s motor vehicle, steel and telecom industries.
A deal with BCX would make sense for Tata. VSNL, a subsidiary of Tata, holds a controlling 26% stake in SNO Telecom, the second network operator. A deal with BCX would give SNO Telecom instant access to BCX’s large corporate client base and make it a converged information and communications technology company from its inception.
Tata subsidiary Tata Infotech already has a limited presence in SA’s IT services market through JSE-listed Faritec. A deal with BCX would make it one of the biggest players in the sector.
BCX says the offer from its mysterious suitor is subject to a number of conditions. It does not say what those are. Nor does it indicate whether the offer price is higher than Telkom’s effective offer of R9,25/share, which values BCX at R2,4bn. Some analysts have already said Telkom’s offer price is on the high side.
Telkom, which has said it is not prepared to increase its offer to BCX shareholders, is keen to expand its business into new areas, including IT services, as its traditional revenue streams — particularly voice telephony — come under pressure in the next few years. The BCX deal is in line with this strategy.
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