Essar and Dhabi partner for African telecom venture

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Essar and Dhabi partner for African telecom venture
Bangalore: India's Essar group and Africa's Dhabi group have signed an agreement for a telecom partnership in Africa. As per the agreement, Essar may pick up a substantial stake in the African telecom assets of the Dhabi Group, an investment company led by members of the Abu Dhabi royal family. After the meeting between Essar's Group CEO, Prashant Ruia and Dhabi Group Chairman, Sheikh Nahayan al-Nahayan in Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Nahyan said, "Today's (Sunday) agreement seeks to tap the huge potentials of the African market and create more job opportunities." The Dhabi Group owns mobile networks in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Congo, Uganda and Cote d'Ivoire, through its subsidiary, Warid Telecom. The discussions with the Essar group are for the latter three African countries' (where services have not started) operations only. The deal will involve an equity infusion into the business as growth capital. A joint statement issued by the two companies said, "Two companies have agreed to enter into exclusive discussions in relation to an investment by the Essar Group into the telecommunications portfolio of Dhabi Group's African assets." However, some sources claim that Essar will pick up a controlling stake in the African telecom assets. Standard Chartered Bank is acting as exclusive financial advisor to the Dhabi Group. Only a fortnight ago, Essar bought a majority stake in Econet Wireless Kenya, offering mobile services in Kenya under the 'Yu' brand name. The company already has around 400,000 subscribers on its network in Nairobi and Mombasa, and expects the number to grow significantly as it completes a roll out across Kenya by year-end.