REG - Vodafone Group Plc - Vodafone to acquire controlling stake in Safaricom

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RNS Number : 1735K  Vodafone Group Plc  04 December 2025

4 DECEMBER 2025 | LONDON, UK

Vodafone to gain control of and fully consolidate Safaricom

·    Vodafone's African subsidiary, Vodacom, to acquire 20% of Safaricom,
taking its stake to 55%

·    15% will be acquired from the Government of Kenya and 5% from
Vodafone

 

Vodafone Group's African subsidiary, Vodacom Group Ltd ("Vodacom") has agreed
to acquire an effective 20% of the issued share capital in Safaricom Plc
("Safaricom"), Kenya's leading telecoms operator (the "Acquisition").

Vodacom will acquire 15% from the Government of Kenya (the "GOK") for a cash
consideration of €1.36 billion(1) (KES 204 billion(2)), and 5% from
Vodafone(3) for a cash consideration of €0.45 billion (KES 68 billion).

Following completion of the Acquisition, Safaricom will be owned by Vodacom
(55%), the GOK (20%) and public investors(4) (25%) and will be consolidated by
both Vodacom and Vodafone.

Transaction rationale

The Acquisition provides both Vodafone and Vodacom with an opportunity to gain
controlling ownership of one of Africa's most successful telecoms and
financial services businesses.

Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Safaricom is Kenya's largest
telecoms company, with a market capitalisation of €7.7 billion. Safaricom
also owns a scaled tower and spectrum portfolio in Kenya, as well as M-Pesa -
a world-leading fintech business - with over 100 million daily transactions
and 38 million M-Pesa customers in Kenya. Safaricom also owns a majority
shareholding in Safaricom Ethiopia. In the six months to 30 September 2025,
Safaricom's service revenue in Kenya was up 9.3% over the corresponding period
last year, underpinned by strong M-Pesa revenue growth of 14%.

 

Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group CEO, said: "In line with our focus on
growth, this is an opportunity to gain a controlling shareholding in a highly
successful African business in an attractive market.  We have enjoyed a
successful partnership with Safaricom since 2000, including the co-development
of M-Pesa, which has brought wide-ranging financial inclusion to millions of
customers."

 

Completion timetable

Completion of the Acquisition is subject to a number of conditions, including,
but not limited to, regulatory approvals in Kenya, South Africa and Ethiopia.

The Acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of the 2026 calendar
year.

Full transaction details are contained in Vodacom's announcement, available
here: https://www.vodacom.com/share-price-and-sens.php
(https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vodacom.com%2Fshare-price-and-sens.php&data=05%7C02%7CDave.Hagedorn%40vodafone.com%7Ca043c9c68558438f3fdd08de3272add9%7C68283f3b84874c86adb3a5228f18b893%7C0%7C0%7C639003665314640574%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=I6yaLDdzAVHsR56dvV4Eg5B%2FCdzmLWFkzdiRlBdr0Dc%3D&reserved=0)

 ENDS 

 

 

Notes to Editors

1.   Subject to customary closing adjustments.

2.   Based on a Euro to Kenyan shilling of 1 Euro:150.5 KES.

3.   Vodafone, through its subsidiary Vodafone International Holdings B.V.,
will sell its remaining 12.5% stake in Vodafone Kenya Limited (equivalent to
an effective 5% stake in Safaricom), to Vodacom.

4.   Via Safaricom's listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

 

 

Contact details

 Media Relations:                                                 Investor Relations:

 Vodafone.com/media/contact (http://vodafone.com/media/contact)   i (https://investors.vodafone.com) nvestors.vodafone.com

                                                                (https://investors.vodafone.com)
 GroupMedia@vodafone.com (mailto:GroupMedia@vodafone.com)

                                                                ir@vodafone.co.uk (mailto:ir@vodafone.co.uk)

About Vodafone Group
everyone.connected

Vodafone is a leading European and African telecoms company.

We serve over 360 million mobile and broadband customers, operating networks
in 15 countries with investments in a further five and partners in over 40
more. We have capacity on more than 70 subsea cable systems - the backbone of
the internet - and we are developing a new direct-to-mobile satellite
communications service to connect areas without coverage. Vodafone runs one of
the world's largest IoT platforms, with over 220 million IoT connections
globally, and we provide financial services to around 94 million customers
across seven African countries - managing more transactions than any other
provider.

From the seabed to the stars, Vodafone's purpose is to keep everyone
connected.

For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com
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follow us on X at @VodafoneGroup or connect with us on LinkedIn at
www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone.
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