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Allied Mobile wins $55m PIC deal

Johannesburg - South African mobile products distributor, Allied Mobile, has received a boost for its Africa expansion bid after securing a $55m debt facility from the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), it said on Monday.
 
Allied Mobile is already expecting sales volumes in its regional markets - that also include Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Kenya - to rise by between 15% and 20% per year. In 2012, Allied Mobile inked an outsourcing deal with Bharti Airtel to provide retail customer services in Zambia.
 
With the securing of the $55m debt facility from PIC, Allied Mobile is now in a position to expand further in both its South African and regional markets. Its other markets in Africa include Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland.
 
"Allied's objective is to be present in every country in Africa and the recent funding from the PIC will assist us in achieving this. Our geographical expansion programme is being conducted in a very cost-effective and efficient manner, as the core operations are run from Allied's existing Sub-Saharan offices which include eight major hubs and four repair centres located throughout Sub-Saharan Africa," said Allied Group's chief executive officer, Jacqueline Cole-Courtney.
 
Allied Mobile “services a fast-growing mobile communications market in sub-Saharan Africa, which is supported by strong demographic and economic fundamentals”, it said.

Significant investments
 
Dr Daniel Matjila, the CEO of PIC said the communications industry in Africa was “an important element for the economic growth of any country”. He said the funding availed to Allied Mobile was in line with the corporation’s strategy to sink money in development sectors in both SA and the region.
 
“We are, therefore, happy to provide funding that seeks to unlock economic potential of countries in which Allied Mobile Africa operates. Our funding supports our objective of investing toward development here in South Africa and the rest of the African continent," he said .
 
PIC has significant investments in major economic sectors across the region. These include recent moves to underwrite a rights issue in platinum miner, Lonmin, investments in Ecobank and in MTN, the troubled telecommunications company that is facing a crisis in Nigeria and in which PIC is the biggest shareholder.
 
It has called for accountability and responsibility by MTN executives over fines amounting to $5.2bn in Nigeria. The storm over the MTN fines in Nigeria “for alleged failure to comply with regulatory requirements in that country” has already claimed the scalp of CEO Sifiso Dabengwa.

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