Kenyan ICT group AccessKenya has signed an agreement with IT service provider Openview Business Systems to purchase 70% of its share capital.
Under the transaction, the remaining 30% of the shares in Openview are open to acquisition by AccessKenya in the next few years. This could make Openview a full subsidiary of the ICT group, says Henry Ngoroje, MD of Openview.
The transaction will take place after approval from the Capital Markets Authority, which is expected today, explains Jonathan Somen, MD of AccessKenya.
This is the second ICT-based acquisition by AccessKenya this month, he adds. The group bought the broadband leased-line customer base of Today's Online earlier this month.
AccessKenya acquired the shares of Openview as a deliberate strategy to diversify from Internet service provision to mainstream IT services. This was one of the IPO pledges made by AccessKenya when it went public in June, says Ngoroje. "By acquiring the shares, the company has fulfilled this pledge."
The group was listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange on 4 June.
"Openview will gain through expertise and specialist ICT skills," says Ngoroje. In addition, Openview will get a lot of visibility being part of a listed group, he notes. "The company will also get better funding to grow the business internally, helping it become a stronger IT service provider in the region by 2010, which is our stated goal."
Company synergy
The acquisition by AccessKenya will create further growth within the company, explains Somen. Openview's first quarter turnover stood at $3 million (KES 200 million), according to company reports.
Somen says the companies' synergy will add value to the ICT group, as well as create future growth. "With the expected revenue from the Openview acquisition, as well as previous strategic growth acquisitions, the group will comfortably exceed $15 million (KES 1 billion) of turnover in 2008."
Openview has blue chip clientele, including banks, insurance companies and parastatals. The company is an IBM premier business partner, an Oracle certified partner, a NetApp Gold partner and a Cisco certified partner.
Somen notes the company is looking at acquiring other ICT-based service companies in order to create further growth.
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