Japanese telecommunications group, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT), is buying SA IT group Dimension Data for £2,1bn (R24,4bn).

The offer represents a R5bn premium to Didata’s value on Wednesday, before the offer was announced.

Didata has already received commitments to support the deal from more than half its shareholders, including Didata directors, Venfin and Allan Gray.

NTT will offer Didata shareholders 120p/share in cash. The deal is subject to approval by regulators. It will fund the deal using a combination of cash resources and loan facilities arranged by the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

NTT says the combination of the two companies will create a “substantially expanded global business for corporate users”.

NTT has developed its business globally with a central focus on managed network services, data centres, system integration and mobile services, it says.

Didata, in turn, focuses on the development, operation and maintenance of IT infrastructure, including network devices and servers at the clients’ site.

Thus the service solutions of both companies do not substantially overlap, the companies say. They also operate in generally complementary geographic territories.

The Japanese company says it will aim to “accelerate the growth of NTT’s global business by leveraging Didata’s entrepreneurial spirit and corporate culture”.

“We have established a strong relationship between the management of Dimension Data and that of NTT,” says NTT CEO and president Satoshi Miura in a statement. “We are looking forward to welcoming the management and employees of Didata to the enlarged NTT Group.”

Dimension Data chairman Jeremy Ord says the combined companies will “hold a strong competitive position serving global corporations’ moving to managed infrastructure services and cloud computing”.

“We believe our alliance with NTT will now allow Didata to accelerate the execution of our medium and long-term strategy at a rapid pace,” Ord says. “NTT and Didata have a shared vision of how the market will evolve.” — Staff reporter, TechCentral