en.Wedoany.com Reported - South African telecoms group Vodacom Group has completed the acquisition of an additional 20% beneficial interest in Kenyan operator Safaricom, increasing its stake from approximately 35% to around 55%, marking the first time Vodacom has gained majority control of the Kenyan operator since Safaricom's listing in 2008.
The deal was finalized after the Kenyan Court of Appeal on June 26 suspended a High Court preservation order that had frozen the transaction since March, pending a constitutional challenge brought by a group of Kenyan petitioners. The Court of Appeal did not rule on the legality of the sale but found that the government had met the threshold for a stay and that the public interest favored allowing the transaction to proceed, leaving the substantive constitutional petition to be heard by the High Court. Opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka, who had separately attempted to block the deal, said the ruling was not an approval and warned of risks in completing the transaction while the case remains unresolved.
Vodacom valued the transaction at R35 billion. First announced in December 2025, the deal involved the group purchasing a 15% stake from the Kenyan government and an additional 5% beneficial interest from parent company Vodafone Group, both at a price of KES 34 per share. The government retains a 20% stake in Safaricom, which remains listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. With majority control, Safaricom's results will transition from equity-accounted associate to full consolidation under IFRS, a change that will materially alter the scale of Vodacom's reported data. Vodacom reported EBITDA of R63 billion in fiscal 2026, while Safaricom's EBITDA stood at R29 billion.
Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub said this is a milestone moment for Vodacom, Safaricom, and the East African community, adding that majority ownership will strengthen the group's market leadership and support its "Vision 2030" goals of expanding digital and financial inclusion in Kenya and Ethiopia.
Safaricom is widely regarded as one of the continent's best-performing operators, with its M-Pesa mobile money platform as a core business, where fintech accounts for 44% of the company's Kenyan revenue. Its newer Ethiopian operations have built a customer base of approximately 14 million and expanded into cloud, IoT, and enterprise services. For Kenya, the sale monetizes part of a 25-year-old state investment to help fund infrastructure spending. National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said proceeds will go toward roads, energy systems, water infrastructure, and airports, with the divestiture conducted lawfully and with parliamentary authorization. Revenue from the government's stake will be allocated to the National Infrastructure Fund.
Vodacom now operates a continuous arc of markets stretching from South Africa through East Africa and Central Africa to Egypt, with Safaricom at the center of its East African footprint. The group said it will update the market on medium-term targets when it releases first-quarter results on July 27.
