Employees at Malian fixed line incumbent Societe des Telecommunications du Mali (SOTELMA) are now finally stakeholders in the company, Agence Ecofin reports. It was confirmed at a meeting of the National Telecommunications Union (Syntel) last week that following the redistribution of shares SOTELMA employees now hold 10% of the telco’s stake, while Morocco Telecom remains the largest shareholder with its 51%. Local investors meanwhile are said to account for 20% of the company stock, while the remaining 19% is in the government’s hands.
As noted in TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, as far back as July 2008 the Malian government unveiled plans under which it would sell a 51% stake in SOTELMA to a strategic investor, with 10% and 19% stakes to be reserved for employees and investors (institutional and public), respectively. While it made good on plans to sell off the 51% stake, completing the divestment to Morocco Telecom in July 2009 in a deal valued at XOF180 billion (USD365 million), it is only now that a redistribution of shares sees SOTELMA staff finally becoming stakeholders.