SA says yes to DiData sale

The £2.1 billion acquisition of Dimension Data, by Japan-based Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, has been approved by South African finance minister Pravin Gordhan and the Exchange Control Department of the South African Reserve Bank.

This is another step in the deal, which is expected to be wrapped up by October. The deal will result in Dimension Data being de-listed from both the Johannesburg and London stock exchanges.

Last week, DiData and NTT said they had received the necessary antitrust clearance from the European Commission to go ahead with the offer.

The companies said, at the time, that they had received notification from the Foreign Investment Review Board that there were no objections to the offer under Australia's foreign investment policy. It is not known what steps still need to be taken before the deal can be finalised.

Although the deal is making steady progress towards being finalised, it has not been without controversy, as the Financial Services Board (FSB) will look into whether leaked information caused suspicious trading in Dimension Data shares just before the company announced the acquisition.

On 12 July, 1.6 million shares changed hands, while another 5.2 million were traded the next day. On 14 July, the day before the announcement, 3.9 million trades took place, while on the day the news was published, 37.6 million stocks were exchanged.

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