Kenya's High Court Ruling Voiding Vodacom's Safaricom Stake Faces Appeals From Both Parties
A Kenyan court has formally nullified the transfer of a 15 percent stake in Safaricom to Vodacom, a transaction reported as worth between $1.5 billion and $2.1 billion, in a ruling described as a constitutional landmark for African telecoms governance. Both Vodacom and the Kenyan government have announced plans to appeal, keeping the landmark ownership and regulatory dispute live.
Safaricom: both sides appeal because neither can afford to win
The appeals from both Vodacom and the Kenyan government aren't a sign that either party believes the court got it wrong.
They're a sign that the ruling, if it stands, is unworkable. The government has already spent the KES 204 billion it received. Vodacom has already restructured Safaricom's board and started counting East Africa's biggest mobile money platform as a group asset — the basis for a ZAR 100 billion upward revision to its 2030 targets.
An appeal isn't a path to justice here. It's a delay tactic while both sides quietly figure out a settlement that doesn't require anyone to return money that no longer exists.
1 source
- Kenya : la justice annule la cession de 15 % de Safaricom à Vodacom · financialafrik.com · T2