South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has resumed its planned sale of a ZAR6 billion (USD440 million) stake in Johannesburg-based telecoms provider Vodacom Group and is reportedly in talks with a number of black investors, Bloomberg writes. The move comes several months after the PIC called off a May 2016 deal to divest around 2.6% of the company to a consortium including former Vodacom executive Romeo Kumalo; the agreement aimed to boost Vodacom’s black shareholding from its current level of 18.7%.
TeleGeography notes that Vodacom Group is owned by UK-based mobile giant Vodafone Group (65.0%) and the PIC (15.4%); the remainder of 19.6% is distributed. In July 2015 the South African government sold its 13.9% stake in the Johannesburg-based operator to PIC, in order to help fund a ZAR23 billion allocation to struggling domestic electricity supplier Eskom.