Business / Companies
Kingdom Bank to acquire Spiritage through a court order
22 Jan 2013 at 08:23hrs | Views
Kingdom Bank is set to acquire the assets of Zimbabwean telecoms operator Spiritage, owned by former Econet Wireles Group executive Zachary Wazara, through a court order to settle unpaid loans worth US$20 million, according to TechZim.
Brodacom, a brand owned by Valley Technologies, a unit of Spiritage, reportedly secured US$30 million funding in July 2012 to help support its expansion plans.
The newcomer has been facing serious debt and cash flow problems and has incurred huge financial losses. The operator is believed to have not even paid salaries to some employees for more than a year.
Rumours that Spiritage Business was not doing well started trickling at the end of 2011. The company had just come out of a clumsy launch of its flagship service, where it mindlessly promised customers "true 4G" speeds.
TechZim's sources at the company told them that senior executives were leaving (or being fired), delayed salary payments and other such. There were also rumours in the market suggesting the company had made serious mistakes procuring WiMax base stations that ended up sitting in a warehouse because they did not meet the technical specs.
Then it became official the company was in trouble.
Angry employees that had gone more than a year without salaries were seeking the intervention of courts to attach company assets. The Spiritage Group and its subsidiaries were also reported to be making huge losses. The company was also evicted from its Anchor House city center head office along Jason Moyo Avenue.
Kindgom Bank, according to the Daily news article, was alarmed when reports suggested Spiritage's assets were being attached over debts owed to other creditors. This spurred Kingdom to make an urgent High Court application to stop this as, according to them, they own all of Spiritage property (loan security) given the loans they advanced the company.
Zachary Wazara is a former Econet Wireless Group executive. He joined Econet as Assistant General Manager for Marketing in 1996 and rose to become Managing Director in 2000. Wazara is said to have helped set up Econet in Botswana, Nigeria, Kenya, Burundi, Lesotho and other countries. He left Econet in May 2009 to pursue setting up his own telecoms company - Spiritage.
Brodacom, a brand owned by Valley Technologies, a unit of Spiritage, reportedly secured US$30 million funding in July 2012 to help support its expansion plans.
The newcomer has been facing serious debt and cash flow problems and has incurred huge financial losses. The operator is believed to have not even paid salaries to some employees for more than a year.
Rumours that Spiritage Business was not doing well started trickling at the end of 2011. The company had just come out of a clumsy launch of its flagship service, where it mindlessly promised customers "true 4G" speeds.
TechZim's sources at the company told them that senior executives were leaving (or being fired), delayed salary payments and other such. There were also rumours in the market suggesting the company had made serious mistakes procuring WiMax base stations that ended up sitting in a warehouse because they did not meet the technical specs.
Then it became official the company was in trouble.
Angry employees that had gone more than a year without salaries were seeking the intervention of courts to attach company assets. The Spiritage Group and its subsidiaries were also reported to be making huge losses. The company was also evicted from its Anchor House city center head office along Jason Moyo Avenue.
Kindgom Bank, according to the Daily news article, was alarmed when reports suggested Spiritage's assets were being attached over debts owed to other creditors. This spurred Kingdom to make an urgent High Court application to stop this as, according to them, they own all of Spiritage property (loan security) given the loans they advanced the company.
Zachary Wazara is a former Econet Wireless Group executive. He joined Econet as Assistant General Manager for Marketing in 1996 and rose to become Managing Director in 2000. Wazara is said to have helped set up Econet in Botswana, Nigeria, Kenya, Burundi, Lesotho and other countries. He left Econet in May 2009 to pursue setting up his own telecoms company - Spiritage.
Source - TechZim
