Dimension Data shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone's (NTT's) £2.1 billion offer, with shareholders owning 93.42% of DiData shares accepting the deal.
Dimension Data said in mid-July that it had received a R24.2 billion buyout offer from NTT. Shareholders had until the close of trade yesterday to indicate whether they would accept the bid.
The merger will create one of the world's largest integrated telecoms and technology groups, speed up DiData's growth strategies, and give NTT a platform to expand into markets outside of the Far East.
“By leveraging the complementary strengths of both companies and by leveraging our synergies, we will provide global, high quality, end-to-end ICT services across the services lifecycle,” says NTT president and CEO Satoshi Miura. “Also, we strongly believe we will accelerate the execution of our strategies to achieve our shared vision.”
DiData chairman Jeremy Ord adds that the “acquisition process proceeded smoothly and we are excited to start charting the journey ahead”. CEO Brett Dawson is “eager to work closely with NTT to begin providing a mutual value proposition to our clients and developing new value that helps solve our clients' IT and business challenges”.
Mopping up minorities
Because shareholders owning more than 90% of DiData shares have agreed to the deal, NTT can now buy out the balance of DiData's shareholders without those shareholders' acceptance.
Legislation allows the company to buy shares that may belong to people who have relocated, died, or lost their share certificates. The payment will be held in trust until minorities can be located and paid.
However, the offer will remain open “for acceptance until further notice” before being closed to allow minorities to accept the bid. NTT's offer for DiData was also subject to several regulatory clearances, and all approvals have now been obtained.
NTT will now request DiData to proceed with cancelling its listings on both the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges. Relevant dates for the delisting will be announced “in due course”.
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