The holding company Remgro, which has a majority stake in a company called Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH) which owns the fibre operator Vumatel, has raised R3.72 billion in equity. While a mouthful, this means that Remgro can finally pay off the debt incurred when it acquired Vumatel and execute its expansion plans.

Remgro(w)

In addition to Vuma, CIVH also owns Dark Fibre Africa, so its footprint in the broadband space is kinda expansive. This is part of an overall strategy to help develop South Africa’s information technology infrastructure. This will help provide not only increased connection across the country, but more job opportunities in the sector, as well as broader access to the economy.

“This equity capital injection will strengthen CIVH’s capital structure and enable it to retain flexibility to capitalise on future opportunities,” Remgro said in a statement, according to BusinessTech.

“Remgro sees significant opportunities ahead to further growth in both of CIVH’s largest operating subsidiaries, as the extension of Active Ethernet, Gigabit Passive Optic Network and Reach expands to new regions for Vumatel, and the flexibility of the business model continues to see strong growth in long-term contracts and annuity income in DFA,” the company continues.

While many businesses struggled during the COVID pandemic in the country, Remgro saw revenue growth of more than 25%, investing more than R3.5 billion for the previous financial year in expanding operations and its network. Now it’ll grow even more, with the help of the R3.75 billion in added equity.