Mara Phones, the African smartphone company, has put in a bid to acquire the mobile business of LG Electronics, according to a reliable source at the Korean manufacturer who requested anonymity.

LG Electronics put its mobile business up for sale last year and almost sold to Vingroup, a Vietnamese conglomerate owned by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong. The deal wasn’t successfully completed after Vingroup’s offer failed to meet LG’s expectations.

If the deal goes through, it could fast track Mara Phone’s emergence as one of the leading smartphone manufacturers on the globe. The African company opened two high tech manufacturing facilities in Durban, South Africa and Kigali, Rwanda in 2019. Since then, it has exported devices to more than 70 countries and is concluding plans to open yet another high tech facility in Nigeria.

Within its short lifespan, Mara Phones has enjoyed tremendous commercial and reputational success. During a 2019 event in Geneva Switzerland, the United Nations particularly recognized Invest Durban and Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone from South Africa for facilitating Mara Phone’s $100 million investment in creating a manufacturing facility in the Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone.

Mara Phones has modelled its business around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and being an African brand and company the appeal is greater as consumers have typically only been exposed to Asian brands and Apple.