ADC African Development Corporation AG (ADC); ISIN DE000A1E8NW9, announces the sale of RSwitch, the national e-payment switch of Rwanda, to Millicom (Stockholmsbörsen: MIC) – a digital services provider operating under the Tigo brand in 15 markets in Africa and Latin America, on the basis of an enterprise valuation of USD 6.5 million.
ADC acquired a majority stake of RSwitch in June 2008 and has worked with local staff over the years to transform the company from a national switch that was struggling to provide adequate services to Rwandan banks and financial services companies into an electronic payment service provider operating internationally with global standards.
At the beginning of 2013, ADC refined its strategy to focus entirely on banking sector activities in order to create a pan-African banking group on a large enough scale to compete with existing players. The sale of RSwitch to Millicom furthers ADC’s strategic vision and will help to support the development of products and services offered by the Rwan-dan payments provider to its clients nationally and abroad.
Millicom is currently active in Rwanda as the second largest mobile service provider in the country operating under the Tigo brand with over two million customers, including over 780,000 Tigo Cash users and has recently opened a tech incubator in the capital, Kigali, to develop new digital solutions for Africa.
Dirk Harbecke, CEO of ADC comments: “The sale of RSwitch to Millicom, a global leader in digital services, is a te-stament to the success achieved by ADC and local staff over the years to build a stable company with the capacity to deliver e-payment services to domestic and international clients both reliably and efficiently. Under the leadership of its CEO Konde Bugingo, RSwitch achieved a turn-around of the business and successfully recorded the first profit in its history in the 2013 financial year. The company will benefit further from Millicom’s experience and presence in countries around the world and we welcome the new partnership.”
