South Africa's biggest mobile operator, Vodacom, has been coy over reports that it is considering selling a R15 billion stake to boost black participation in the company.
Citing unnamed sources, yesterday Bloomberg reported that Vodacom plans to buy back part of the 12.47% stake owned by government pension fund manager, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).
According to the report, the shareholding could then be listed as a separate entity restricted to black investors. Negotiations with the PIC are ongoing and an outcome is expected in coming months, said one of the people, it adds.
"As a company with roots in SA, Vodacom is committed to delivering on the ideals of black economic empowerment (BEE) and continues to explore a variety of options with the primary objective of broad-based inclusivity," Vodacom spokesperson Byron Kennedy told ITWeb.
"Any transaction of this nature will be conducted through a well-governed, highly transparent process," he added.
The PIC, which manages the Government Employees Pension Fund, acquired government's 13.91% interest in Vodacom in 2015 to boost its ownership in the telco to over 15%.
The government stake was said to be worth over R28 billion, and the sale was prompted by government's need to help finance a R23 billion bailout allocation for struggling power utility Eskom.
In April, PIC CEO Dan Matjila confirmed to ITWeb that it had been approached by various BEE consortiums to buy a portion of its Vodacom shares, but the group later abandoned the planned sale.
The sale of the Vodacom stake is anticipated to come in handy in boosting the company's BEE rating. Last year, telecommunications and postal services minister Siyabonga Cwele announced the new broad-based black economic empowerment ICT sector code.
The sector-specific code increases the minimum prescribed equity to be held by black people to 30% versus 25% in the country's generic code. The code is voluntary but Cwele expects firms to adopt it in a bid to boost their BEE ratings.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa's delayed spectrum auction also gave a 30% black-ownership minimum to applicants looking to gain access to radio frequency spectrum.
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