DIMENSION DATA IN TALKS ON POSSIBLE BUYBACK DEAL

DIMENSION Data Holdings’ management is in advanced talks to buy the company back from Japanese telecommunications company Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation, according to people familiar with the matter. Dimension Data executives met with NTT in London on several occasions recently about a potential deal and are working on lining-up financing for a bid, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. No final decisions have been made and the two sides may decide against proceeding with a deal, they said. NTT bought Johannesburg-based Dimension Data a decade ago for about 2.1 billion pounds, and has since sold off several of the unit’s assets, including its Nigerian and Ghanaian units as well as its fibre and wireless services in 2017. The Dimension Data management team are mainly interested in the core South African business, which could be valued at as little as $300 million (R4.8 billion) on its own, the people said. Plans for a potential deal include keeping Dimension Data founder Jeremy Ord as chairperson, with Grant Bodley and Saki Missaikos – currently the chief executive and strategy head respectively – leading the company once the transaction has been completed, said the people. Dimension Data acts as the Middle East and Africa business for NTT Ltd, a global IT subsidiary of the Japanese telecom company. A spokesperson for NTT Ltd declined to comment. Ord, Bodley and Missaikos also declined to comment. Dimension Data’s management has been considering a deal for at least part of the business for at least a year, Bloomberg has reported. The company was founded in South Africa in 1983, and NTT bought it in 2010. | Bloomberg