The Competition Commission has approved, without conditions, the proposed merger whereby Blue Label Telecoms (BLT) intends to acquire a stake in Hyve Mobile.
JSE-listed Blue Label is acquiring 50% of the business and the price is variable based on performance, a Blue Label Telecoms spokesperson told ITWeb in e-mailed responses to questions about the deal.
Hyve Mobile is a next-generation mobile content and value-added services platform and BLT says the acquisition has been under consideration for approximately 24 months.
Hyve Mobile creates products for mobile operators and device manufacturers throughout Africa and its products "range from gaming to dating, from news to sport, to cultural and religious services that work across USSD, SMS and mobile Web", the group's Web site explains.
The commission found the proposed transaction "is unlikely to result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition in any market," and further found the proposed transaction "does not raise any public interest concerns".
Commenting on the rationale behind the deal, BLT says the Blue Label Mobile (BLM) group has been transitioning from a business-to-consumer-focused business into at business-to-business-to-consumer service provider.
"The intended strategy is to partner with mobile network operators (MNOs) with carrier-grade platforms to provide various products and services to their consumers. Hyve Mobile has a carrier grade service delivery platform that enables and enhances this strategy and allows for growth and expansion into MNOs in developing markets.
"This allows us to deploy further Blue Label group products and services into these developing countries. BLM group will also look to enhance Hyve SDP sales to existing BLM and BLT clients and exploit existing relationships and other BLM platform deployments," Blue Label told ITWeb.
Hyve Mobile will retain its current management after the deal is done.
"We are excited the deal has been approved and look forward to incorporating Hyve Mobile into the BLM group and wider Blue Label Telecoms companies to aggressively pursue new opportunities and extract enhanced value across all group companies," the spokesperson added.
Blue Label Telecoms is run by joint-CEOs and brothers, Mark and Brett Levy.
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