Safaricom has completed transaction for acquisition of the entire issued share capital of M-Pesa Holding Limited from Vodafone International Holdings BV.

M-Pesa Holding is the corporate trustee responsible for holding of M-Pesa customer funds under the M-pesa trust arrangement as required by the National Payment System Regulations, 2014.

The two entities entered into a share purchase agreement mid-April this year for the transfer of one hundred per cent shareholding in M-Pesa Hilding from Vodafone. “Completion of the transaction was subject to the satisfaction of conditions that are customary for transactions of this nature, including obtaining approval from shareholders and relevant regulators, all of which have been duly satisfied and all regulatory approvals obtained,” said Safaricom’s acting secretary Linda Wambani.

M-Pesa was established on March 6, 2007, by Vodafone’s Kenyan associate, Safaricom. The mobile money app is arguably the largest payments platform on the African continent; it has 40 million users and processes over a billion transactions every month. M-PESA is operational in Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mozambique and Egypt. Currently around 25 per cent of all M-PESA customers have access to a smartphone – a figure that is growing by 10 per cent every year.

To expand reach beyond the African Continent, President William Ruto last month disclosed that Safaricom is mulling a partnership with Apple Inc to expand M-Pesa’s footprint globally.

Currently, Safaricom and online payment PayPal have a collaboration that allows movement of funds between M-PESA and PayPal accounts which has been hailed as a huge boost to international eCommerce.