In his terrible race against time since February 2017 against the company Millicom for the purchase of Tigo Senegal, Kabirou Mbodj faced two enemies: time and money.
On the first duel, the CEO of the Wari group has thought he won when he succeeded, helped by Afreximbank, to mobilize the amount requested, 80 billion CFA francs. Alas, it was too late. The deadline had expired, releasing the Millicom group from the sales agreement linking it with the Wari. The case should not stop there, Kabirou Mbodj having sued the owners of Tigo Senegal before the commercial court and, at the same time, initiated actions in Paris.
The other enemy of Kabirou Mbodj was the money, which turns out in this case to be more decisive than a presidential decree.
At the very beginning, there was an agreement in principle with Tony Elumelu’s United Bank for Africa (UBA). The Nigerian bank required 40% in exchange for its commitment. Negotiations continued without agreement. Then comes a new director of risks at UBA, with an unfavorable opinion.
To these setbacks is added the abortive buyout of a bank in Togo writing off the costs of approach and due diligence.
This is a big disappointment for the young Tycon. These failures force Kabirou Mbodj to refocus on his core business and on Senegal, his comfort zone. The future goes through a tough competition with Orange and BDK, the control of the network and, last but not least, the transition from basic transfer to e-wallet, electronic wallet through which the customer relationship can to be capitalized.
Towards a court battle
As a reminder, following the announcement of the approval, by presidential decree, of the sale of Tigo to Yérim Sow et Cie, the group led by Kabirou Mbodji sent a summons to the Senegalese subsidiary of Millicom. A confrontation is scheduled April 30 before the Commercial Court of Dakar. Wari would demand a penalty of 10 billion CFA francs a day. Enough to prevent Tigo Senegal from falling into the trap of Yerim Sow and Xavier Niel?
