Essar’s offer for Warid’s assets in Africa fails to receive regulatory sanction

India’s Essar Group has been forced to cancel the purchase of mobile networks in Uganda and Congo after the company was unable to secure regulatory approval for the transaction.

Essar Group agreed to purchase the networks from Warid Telecom in November 2009 for US$318 million, but the two companies have now cancelled the deal as, “certain condition precedents pertaining to government clearance were not met”.

This development comes on the back of Essar’s sale of its 33 per cent stake in Vodafone Essar, the holding company that owned 75 per cent of the Indian mobile network.

It is also reported that Essar is looking to sell its Kenyan subsidiary and withdraw from the mobile network operator business entirely.