South African mobile operator Cell C has confirmed that its parent company and effective controlling shareholder, Dubai-based Oger Telecom, is injecting USD180 million worth of new equity into company. In a brief statement, new Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig said: ‘This foreign investment into South Africa demonstrates the confidence our shareholders have in both SA and Cell C’.
However, Knott-Craig told TechCentral that Oger’s latest investment will not have any impact on the percentage of equity held by any of the company’s stakeholders; black economic empowerment (BEE) shareholder, CellSAf, which currently holds 25% of the operator’s shares, is not contributing equity alongside Oger’s investment. The CEO clarified that Oger’s equity injection is a cheaper way of raising the funding the company needs than by securing loans and adding debt to the balance sheet. The money will be used to grow the business, he confirmed.