Kai, SA Group buys Kai. See below. Business Report Altechs R500m Kenyan buy should give it access to new submarine cable Thabiso Mochiko 411 words 28 September 2007 The Star e1 3 English © Copyright 2007 Independent Newspapers (UK) Limited. All rights reserved. Johannesburg Allied Technologies (Altech) will pay more than R500 million for a 51 percent stake in a division of Kenyas Sameer Group, which should give the telecommunications technology company access to an undersea cable. Altech, which has a war chest of R1.2 billion, has agreed to buy a majority shareholding in Sameers information and communication technology (ICT) division, which houses Kenya Data Networks (KDN), Swift Global and Infocom. KDN operates an extensive fibreoptic cable network and plans to expand into Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Swift Global is an internet service provider with operations in Kenya and Tanzania. Infocom provides broadband internet services in Uganda. KDN is expected to participate in the African east coast submarine link, which will support Altechs aggressive expansion into the telecoms arena. Altech chief executive Craig Venter said growth opportunities in Kenya were helped by its stable political environment. The acquisition formed part of Altechs strategy to become a global company, he added. Venter noted that the ever-changing technology environment required equal measures of prudence and agility. Altech is still on the prowl for acquisitions, but says it will not buy an existing cellular network operator because its cellphone service provider, Autopage, continues to grow. The firm, which resells products of Cell C, MTN and Vodacom, now boasts 850 000 subscribers. Altech operates in India through its satellite television decoder manufacturer, Altech UEC. Its vehicle tracking firm, Altech Netstar, has opened shop in Malaysia and will expand to Brazil. In the rest of Africa, Altech operates in Rwanda, where it has been licensed to roll out a high-speed WiMax internet network. It has profitable operations in Nigeria through NamITech, which manufactures 60 million prepaid airtime vouchers a month for the countrys five cellular operators. Altech will spend R30 million to expand capacity to make credit cards for banks and SIM cards for cellular operators. Another R90 million acquisition, of fleet management firm ComTech, is subject to competition commission approval. This week Altech, which is majority-owned by JSE-listed Allied Electronics, posted a 20 percent rise in revenue to R4 billion for the six months to August. Interim operating profit increased by 6 percent to R306 million from a year earlier. Altechs shares gained 25c to R61.75 yesterday. The all share index added 0.44 percent.