Finance minister Pravin Gordhan and the SA Reserve Bank have both given the green light to the R24,4bn all-cash acquisition of SA IT group Dimension Data by Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT). Didata said on Friday that both parties had approved the offer.
Browsing: Dimension Data
The sale of SA technology powerhouse Dimension Data to Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) is a big step closer. The companies announced on Thursday that NTT’s proposed R24,4bn buy-out of Didata has been given the nod by both the European Commission and Australia’s Foreign Investment Board.
Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT), which is in the process of acquiring Dimension Data in a R24bn all-cash deal, should be pleased with the SA-based technology group’s latest financial results. In the three months to 30 June 2010, Didata has lifted sales by a robust 22% over the same period in 2009, boosted by a good performance from its systems integration division.
SA’s three biggest cities are all pushing ahead with ambitious fibre-optic network projects, promising businesses and even residential customers cheaper and faster broadband. The municipalities of Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town are all pushing ahead with plans to build thousands of kilometres of fibre infrastructure as they try to drive down communication costs in their cities.
Are Cell C, Dimension Data and Andile Ngcaba’s investment firm Convergence Partners planning to build a national fibre-optic telecommunications network? Rumours have begun circulating that the three companies are in talks about doing exactly that. TechCentral has established from various parties that preliminary talks are already underway.
When I arrived at Jeremy Ord’s office last Friday — the day after news that the group he cofounded and now chairs, Dimension Data, was being bought out for R24,4bn by a Japanese corporate giant — he was looking relaxed. Having just flown back from London that morning, Ord appeared a little tired but entirely laid-back in jeans, takkies and an old jumper. The TV in his office, tuned in to the British Open, had the attention of the 54- year-old golfing and cycling enthusiast.
Dimension Data’s telecommunications division Internet Solutions (IS) may make use of some of the innovative technology coming out of Japan’s Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp (NTT) as it steps up the roll-out of its own telecommunications network infrastructure. That’s the word from Didata chairman Jeremy Ord, who was speaking to TechCentral a day after the London- and Johannesburg-listed group announced it was being acquired by NTT in an all-cash deal worth R24,4bn.
The proposed acquisition by Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) of Dimension Data will give the SA-headquartered IT group’s Internet Solutions (IS) division access to one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies. IS MD Derek Wilcocks, reacting to the news of the proposed R24,4bn all-cash deal, says it’s “incredibly positive” for IS as it will make the Didata unit part of one of the “strongest global networks, with data centres around the world”.
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.
Dimension Data subsidiary Merchants will take over and run Cell C’s customer call centre, the mobile operator has announced. It’s one of several initiatives aimed at improving Cell C’s customer service levels, says CEO Lars Reichelt, which include overhauling its billing system and moving its contact centre to Parktown