In a major shift for Kenya’s telecommunications industry, Vodacom Group has finally completed its purchase of an additional 20 percent stake in Safaricom.
This move now gives the South African-based company a controlling 55 percent shareholding in the country’s largest telco, cementing its position as the majority owner.
The transaction, which is worth about Ksh271 billion (around $2.1 billion), saw Vodacom buy a 15 percent stake from the Kenyan government and another 5 percent from Vodafone.
The buying price was set at Ksh34 per share, and the whole process had been hanging in the balance for a while due to court orders that were temporarily blocking it. However, the Court of Appeal recently stepped in and stayed those conservatory orders, giving the green light for the deal to go through.
Now that the dust has settled, the Kenyan government is left holding a 20 percent stake in Safaricom. The company will, however, continue to be listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), so ordinary Kenyans who own shares need not worry about their investments vanishing into thin air. Safaricom remains a publicly traded company, and its presence on the bourse is here to stay.
With this new majority status, Vodacom is expected to have a much stronger voice when it comes to making key decisions about Safaricom’s leadership and daily operations.
Many industry watchers are already speculating about possible changes in management or strategic direction, though nothing official has been announced yet. What is clear is that Vodacom now holds the pen when it comes to writing the telco’s next chapter.
For its part, Vodacom has promised to give Kenyans a clearer picture of what lies ahead when it releases its first-quarter financial results around July 27, 2026.
That announcement will likely include updates on the company’s medium-term strategy, and everyone from competitors to ordinary customers will be keen to know how this new ownership structure will affect things like service delivery, pricing, and innovation.
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