“NEC” Increases its Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa-Based ICT Solutions “XON” into a Subsidiary

TOKYO & MIDRAND, South Africa.-Friday, February 9th 2018 [ AETOS Wire ]

(BUSINESS WIRE)– NEC Corporation (NEC) (TOKYO: 6701) today announced an increase in investment in XON Holdings Proprietary Limited (XON), an ICT solutions company based in the Republic of South Africa, making it a subsidiary through NEC Europe Ltd.

XON, a Systems Integrator throughout Sub-Saharan Africa established in 1996, designs, builds, operates, and manages information and communication technology (ICT) solutions created specifically for customers.

In a bid to expand its business in Africa, NEC made an investment in 2015 in XON that saw NEC take up a 25% stake in XON to unlock synergies between NEC’s African operation and XON. Following the successful synergies and value created through the first transaction, NEC decided to increase its investment in XON in a second transaction that sees NEC increase its stake in the merged XON-NEC Africa business to 59.1%.

NEC expects rapid growth in its Sub-Saharan Africa business, where a huge market exists for its Safer Cities, Energy, Cybersecurity and Telecommunication solutions, amongst others. The combined XON-NEC Africa business provides NEC with the platform to capitalize on these opportunities.

NEC launched its operations in Africa in 1963 and has continued to contribute to the Continent mainly through building telecommunication and broadcasting infrastructure. In 2011, it established NEC Africa (Pty) Ltd. in South Africa, a company focused on growing NEC’s business in the Sub-Saharan region.

“This increased investment in XON will see NEC and XON boost their sales within each other’s customers and accelerate growth through the provision of NEC’s products and technologies fit for the region. While capitalizing on the large number of advanced IT engineers employed by XON, NEC will bolster its capacity to provide integrated solutions covering consulting, systems construction and maintenance. Thereby, NEC will aim to expand its social solution business in the Sub-Saharan region and in the rest of the African region,” said Hironobu Kurosaki, President and CEO, NEC Europe.