Access Kenya buys Internet firm Story by NATION Reporter and REUTERS Publication Date: 7/5/2007 AccessKenya Group yesterday announced the acquisition of a broadband leased line Internet Service Provider, Todays Online, subject to approval from the Monopolies Commission. Todays Online's acquisition, marks a significant step for the company which listed at the Nairobi Stock Exchange early last month. The Managing Director of the Group, Mr Jonathan Somen, said that the purchase clearly showed the market that the company was keen to invest funds raised from the IPO. "Unlike many previous IPOs, AccessKenya Group went public to raise capital to fund our expansion, and we had specifically told the market that making acquisitions would be an important part of our strategy," commented Jonathan Somen, Managing Director of the Group. Milton Njanja, Managing Director of Today's Online commented further: " Following discussions with AccessKenya, the Board of Todays felt that the interests of our customers would be best served by transferring their connections to AccessKenya's network, giving them access to better speeds and higher value for money." As part of the transaction, Todays' Online, will work with AccessKenya to migrate the customers onto the AccessKenya Group's network. Todays' Online will also continue to sell internet services for AccessKenya for at least the next nine months as agents. The exact value of the transaction consisted of an initial undisclosed fee and a future payment based on the successful migration of the customer base to AccessKenya's network. In the financial markets, the Kenya shilling weakened against the US dollar in the week, dragged down by dollar demand from corporates and bank players squaring their positions, dealers said. The local unit traded at Sh66.70/80 to the dollar, compared with last Wednesday's close of Sh66.20/30. "There was a lot of dollar demand towards the end of last month as, which seems to have spilled over to this week. This made the shilling to lose almost 40 cents," said Jeremiah Kendagor, head of foreign exchange at the Kenya Commercial Bank. "Basically it was from corporates and there was also squaring off by interbank players," he added. <http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?> __,_._,___