MWEB becomes hot property
Naspers recently stunned the market by announcing that it is looking to sell its successful internet service provider, MWEB. With 320 000 home subscribers, MWEB is the second largest ISP in the country, second only to fixed line provider Telkom.
MWEB CEO, Rudi Jansen, said that they have had lots of interest in the company, “far more that what we initially anticipated and some serious international players as well”.
Jansen said that he can not disclose all the interested parties, but it is widely expected that the main bidding from local players will come from Dimension Data, Altech, MTN and Vox Telecom.
MWEB’s existing relationship with Internet Solutions, a Dimension Data subsidiary, means that IS will be able to immediately capitalise from MWEB’s existing dial-up subscriber base while also benefiting from moving its current SAIX-based ADSL subscribers over to IS-based accounts.
Altech is another strong bidder and its obvious plans in the telecoms and WiMax markets means that the company may be willing to pay a premium for MWEB.
MTN, Vox Telecom and some international bidders can be considered dark horses in the race to acquire MWEB, with other players like Vodacom Business sure to take part even if just to make certain nobody picks up the company for a bargain.
There are varying reports on the value of MWEB and the price it is likely to fetch, with some analysts predicting a value around R 1.5billion while others predict that it can fetch a price of R3billion or higher.
Jansen points out that as far as the valuation goes it is pure speculation at this stage by the broader media. “The price will be determined by this process. I am very happy with the process to date and everything is running on schedule,” he said.
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