DiData shareholders green-light NTT acquisition

Integrator to delist from London and Johannesburg markets as deal clears final hurdle

Sharing the spoils: NTT will now compulsorily acquire all remaining DiData shares

Japanese telecoms giant NTT has got its hands on the vast majority of shares in Dimension Data (DiData), making its buy-out of its global integrator unconditional.

NTT agreed a £2.1bn deal to acquire the network integration giant in July. The deal has been subject to regulatory approval in various parts of the world, and also prompted a probe into possible insider trading activity from the South African Financial Services Board.

Yesterday's announcement represents clearance of the deal's last hurdle and the acquisition is now effectively complete. NTT has had offers accepted for more than 1.6 billion shares in DiData – accounting for more 93.4 per cent of the shares to which its offer relates.

Having breached the 90 per cent mark, the Tokyo-based firm intends to compulsorily acquire all remaining shares in the integrator. As it returns to private ownership, DiData, which is publicly listed in London and Johannesburg, will be delisted in due course.

NTT chief executive Satoshi Miura said: "By leveraging the complementary strengths of both companies and by leveraging our synergies, we will provide global, high quality, end-to-end ICT services across the services lifecycle. Also we strongly believe that we will accelerate the execution of our strategies to achieve our shared vision.”

Jeremy Ord, executive chairman of DiData claimed the buy-out has "proceeded smoothly". He added that he was excited at the thought of beginning strategic integration work.

"NTT is world renowned for providing clients with flawless reliability and the highest quality communications solutions," he said. "Coupled with Dimension Data’s system integration expertise and service delivery excellence, together we will be a formidable force in the marketplace."