Zim's Econet said to be in talks about restructuring

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe is in talks about restructuring the company, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The company, which has a market value of $3.1bn, announced on Monday that it’s in talks that may affect its share price, urging stockholder caution when trading its securities. It didn’t provide further details.

The talks are related to a reorganisation, the two people said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorised to discuss it publicly.

One of the people said the restructuring may relate to plans for an initial public offering by Liquid Telecom, a unit of Econet that owns about 40 000 kilometres of cross-border fibre networks in Africa.

Liquid chief executive officer Nic Rudnick said last year that an IPO was a possibility.

Econet, founded by Zimbabwean phone tycoon Strive Masiyiwa, is also considering selling shares on the London Stock Exchange that could value the company at about $8bn, people familiar with the matter said in November.