Huge Group is acquiring Otel in a share-swap deal involving its subsidiary, Huge Networks, the JSE-listed telecommunications specialist said in a statement to shareholders after markets closed on Thursday.
The deal will result an effective merger of Huge Networks and Otel — Huge Networks will own 50.03% of the merged entity and Otel Communications will own 49.97%.
The Otel brand will be “migrated” to the Huge Networks brand, Huge Group said.
Otel is a national provider of Internet-based voice telephony and broadband infrastructure-as-a-service telecommunications solutions.
The deal allows Huge Group to scale its operations and grow its customer base, it said. It will “expand both the national reach and footprint of Huge, while also increasing its network capacity and connectivity options and allow for network synergies and efficiencies”.
The combination of the management teams from Huge Networks and Otel will “significantly enhance the intellectual capacity within the telecoms grouping”, it said.
Huge Networks will become a more substantial provider of end-to-end ICT services as a result of the deal, it added. “It will also provide Huge Networks with an opportunity to enter new customer segments.”
“Huge Networks will be well-positioned to capitalise on the further expansion of the Internet service provider and ICT service provider industry through various organic and acquisition growth strategies.”
‘Huge real estate’
“We believe that the merger will enable us to extend our customer value proposition and give us access to a huge real estate of customers. We have already identified several areas of growth and the backing of Huge Group will unlock these growth initiatives”, said Otel CEO Rad Jankovic in the statement.
Marius Oberholzer will remain MD of the enlarged Huge Networks.
Huge Group CEO James Herbst said the company “needs to continue to augment its existing offering by making strategic acquisitions like Otel”.
“It’s not only about the big headline transactions but rather that we continue to actively pursue acquisitions and service diversification in a strategic manner.” — © 2019 NewsCentral Media
