Vodafone Egypt is getting a bigger slice of Basata: Vodafone Egypt is set to raise its stake in B Investments subsidiary and fintech platform Basata Holding for Financial Investments from 10% to 20% through a capital increase, with the agreement pending the approval from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), B Investments said in an EGX disclosure (pdf). No information was given about the value of the transaction.

What’s next? The CBE is expected to give its final sign off on the acquisition during 1Q 2024, AsharqBusiness reported last week, citing an unnamed source it says has knowledge on the agreement.

Basata? Initially dubbed Ebtikar, Basata was established as a JV between B Investments, BPE Partners, and MM Group for Industry and International Trade in 2017.Basata’s e-payment arm provides point-of-sale (POS) machines to merchants, has its own app — dubbed Basata Pay — for consumers to pay bills and make other transactions remotely.

A long time coming: Vodafone Egypt acquired its existing 10% stake in the firm in April 2022 — then split between Bee and Masary before they were merged into Basata. The telecom giant had plans to acquire 20% of Basata under an MoU signed in 2021. The acquisition was set to take place in two phases, wherein Vodafone would purchase the remaining 10% stake after receiving final regulatory approvals, a Vodafone Egypt representative told us at the time.

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