Tanzanian tycoon Rostam Aziz, one of the country’s richest men, has finally concluded the sale of the last tranche of his Vodacom Tanzania shares to Vodacom South Africa.
According to a report by Citizen newspaper, Aziz sold his last 588 million shares in Vodacom Tanzania, which was held under Mirambo Holdings, one of his investment vehicles, to Vodacom South Africa in a deal that was conducted on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange on Wednesday last week. The shares were valued at approximately $220 million at the time of the sale. A spokesperson for Vodacom Tanzania did not respond to a request for comment.
The deal comes almost ten months after shareholders of the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange-listed Vodacom Tanzania approved the sale of Mirambo Holdings’ stake in the telecom company to Vodacom Group of South Africa in November 2018.
55-year-old Rostam Aziz, who facilitated Vodacom South Africa’s entry into Tanzania, previously owned an estimated 35% stake in Vodacom Tanzania. In 2014, he sold a 17.2% stake in Vodacom Tanzania held via his Cavalry Holdings, a Jersey Island-registered private investment company, and held on to an estimated 17.8%.
Vodacom Tanzania, which has more than 11 million active subscribers, is the country’s largest mobile phone company, and Vodacom Group’s second most successful operation in Africa, after its South African unit that boasts more than 23 million subscribers. Last August, the company made its debut on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.
Rostam Aziz, 54, was Tanzania’s first billionaire and is still one of the country’s leading businessmen and power brokers. Apart from his shareholding in Vodacom Tanzania, he built a fortune from stakes in contract mining firm Caspian Mining, a Port in Dar es Salaam, extensive real estate in Tanzania and the Middle East and investments in Tanzanian media. In July this year, he launched a $65 million liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage and filling facility in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.