Tel -Aviv listed Athlone (ATLN) joins the African digital revolution by acquiring Vaninga which has the exclusive license to build a Data Centre in Moçambique which will launch the initiative for the Continent

TORONTO AND TEL AVIV, March 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - Athlone has entered into a memorandum of agreement that involves the acquisition of a majority stake in a Moçambique registered telecommunications provider with the strategy to focus on establishing a network of data centres in strategic locations around Africa where it will apply its cutting edge data solutions, cloud and virtualization capacity. This provider called Vaninga has secured a national telecommunications licence which grants it the right to provide voice and data services, international gateway transit services, broadband services and the building of data centres. The licence includes spectrum for the provision of satellite links as well as the provision of terrestrial wireless services.

The African continent's newly laid undersea cable infrastructure has increased the data bandwidth by 400 fold and the opportunity for Athlone is to create and build regional data centres around Africa where the undersea cables land at the coast.

The team has chosen Moçambique because of the compelling opportunity in the large infrastructure projects being built, the continent's largest natural gas discovery and the list of international companies like Anadarko, ENI, RTZ, Halliburton and Statoil that are moving in. Moçambique is also proving to be progressive in its economic and regulatory outlook and is embracing new technologies and operators.

Africans have demonstrated their endless hunger for new technology via the mobile smartphone and the creation of innovative apps, like mobile money solutions which have been exploding at an exponential rate. The first data centre will be commissioned with the benefit of numerous contracts with health, central banking, education, defence and police departments and government ministries. The hosting will provide cloud services, voice and data Networks, wireless and sensitive data storage.

The well known and highly successful African team of Ross Macdonald and Gordon Edwards have formulated this well thought through strategy and will guide and manage Athlone in building out this massive endeavour.

Ross Macdonald was one of the founders of the MTN Group, a South Africa-based multibillion dollar mobile telecommunications conglomerate, and was responsible for building many of the initial operations for the MTN Group in Africa.

Gordon Edwards, who was one of the founders of DataTech, which is a global multibillion dollar IT company, has extensive experience in rolling out digital infrastructure in Africa for both banks as well as mobile networks.

The Chairman of Athlone, Stan Bharti said "we are very excited about joining forces with Edwards and Macdonald who have a demonstrable track record as we seek to strategically shift the company's focus into the ICT sector. We believe this brings an exciting new opportunity for investors on the Tel Aviv exchange."

Bharti continued, "Tel Aviv has rightfully gained a reputation as a global hub for new technologies and their commercialization.  It is rich with new ideas, innovations and solutions especially for companies like Vaninga that seek to bring the benefits of technology to the rapidly emerging market of Africa. In Israel, investors and technologists alike have shown time and again their appreciation and understanding of working in unconventional, developing environments, which will be of great benefit to this new venture."

Details of the Proposed Transaction

The memorandum of agreement provides that Athlone will issue 30,000,000 ordinary shares to certain shareholders of Vaninga in consideration for the purchase of 75% of the outstanding shares of Vaninga. In addition, Athlone will provide a working capital loan to Vaninga in the principal amount of US$2,000,000.

The issuance of Athlone shares to Vaninga shareholders is subject to negotiation and execution of a definitive share exchange agreement, and receipt of all necessary regulatory and shareholder approvals. The memorandum of agreement also provides for standard deal protections and exclusivity.

Toronto / Tel Aviv
13 March 201

To view a copy of the news release in Hebrew, please view PDF

This forward-looking information is based, among other things, expectations and assumptions of the Company regarding the current status, areas of operations and business environment as they are at the date of this document, the analysis of general information available to the Company at the date of this document and future developments and there is no certainty as to the willingness, integrity and / or realization. Realization of forward-looking information stated may be affected by factors that cannot be assessed in advance and are not controlled by the Company, including changes in market conditions and the environment, regulatory changes, changes in economic conditions and / or the realization of any of the risk factors of the Company as detailed in the Company which is posted Magna.

SOURCE Athlone Investments

PDF available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2014/03/13/20140313_C4982_DOC_EN_37897.pdf