03 November 2023

Safaricom has completed the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of M-Pesa Holdings from Vodafone International Holdings B.V.

“Completion of the transaction was subject to the satisfaction of conditions customary for transactions of this nature, including obtaining approval from shareholders and relevant regulatory authorities, all of which have been duly satisfied, and all approvals regulatory requirements have been obtained,” said Safaricom in a statement.

Vodafone had previously agreed to sell all the shares in M-Pesa Holdings to Safaricom for $1 as part of the broader strategy to reorganize Vodafone’s assets in Africa. In February, the company sold its 70% stake in Vodafone Ghana to Telecel Group. In December 2021, it finalized the sale of its Egyptian unit to Vodacom for 59.7 billion Egyptian pounds.

Vodafone held the intellectual property rights of M-Pesa until April 2020, when Safaricom and Vodacom joined forces to buy the platform from Vodafone in a US$13.4 million transaction. Prior to this, the two companies that operated M-Pesa in Africa were required to pay Vodafone royalties which amounted respectively to 2% of M-Pesa’s annual revenue for Safaricom and 3% of its intellectual property fees.

The acquisition of M-Pesa Holdings should allow Safaricom to simplify the management of M-Pesa and strengthen its control over the financial services segment which has become one of the engines of its growth.