Sahara Holdings has struck a R173 million empowerment deal.
The deal sees Sahara Holdings selling 27% of its shares to mining magnate Tokyo Sexwale's Mvelaphanda Holdings and former Anglo American SA CEO Lazarus Zim's investment vehicle, Afripalm Consortium.
Sahara Holdings MD Atul Gupta said Sahara believes the deal is about true transformation, based on broad empowerment principles, of which the benefits would be reaped in two to three years.
Gupta announced yesterday: "The present valuation of the company is R960 million. After Sahara's discount to its BEE partners of 33%, the company's valuation stands at R640 million."
The agreement offers both parties a 12.1% stake in the company.
A further 2.8% of the shares will be subscribed to the Sahara Employees Trust Fund, administered by four trustees, one of whom is nominated by the Sahara board of directors and the rest are employees, he added.
This will be a financed deal, he said, with Nedbank financing R85 million. The contribution by BEE partners will amount to R15 million, and vendor finance amounting to R73 million will be put up by the Gupta family.
Vusi Mavimbela, group executive director of business strategy of Mvelaphanda, said: "We are a company with big ambitions of growing both in SA and on the continent. Sahara is a company with vision and it shares our ambitions of global growth.
"We believe the African continent is going to be one of the fastest growing areas in terms of ICT. This growth potential leads us to partner up with Sahara in order to leverage each other's experience as global players."
Zim commented that the ICT sector was crucial for Afripalm, as ICT would play a pivotal role in the development of Africa.
"Sahara is a company with an excellent growth record, driven by innovative and visionary leadership. We believe that it is possible, with this brand partnership, that we can emerge number one in Africa's ICT sector."
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