Mungo Soggot
The privatisation of Sun Air is galloping ahead, with the Transport Department set to interview on Friday advisers who will start work on Monday.
The shortlist of three possible advisers for the R200-million airline sale comprises banking group Investec, a partnership between investment bank BoE NatWest and Johannesburg law firm Moseneke & Partners, and Real Africa Durolink, the investment banking arm of Don Ncube’s Real Africa Investments.
The Transport Department advertised for advisers over the Christmas break. Industry observers say transport director general Ketso Gordhan’s appointment of advisers for the Sun Air privatisation has been rapid and efficient. This stands in contrast to the Public Enterprises Department’s efforts to appoint its advisers last year – a painfully protracted process subject to many delays before Simpson McKie HSBC, a tie up between the local stockbroker and international banking group HSBC, was finally selected.
The advisers have been told they will work with Simpson McKie HSBC, the overall government adviser. However, the overlap between advisers working for Minister of Transport Mac Maharaj and those working for Minister of Public Enterprises Stella Sigcau comes after long-standing tensions between the two ministers over who should control the privatisation of state transport assets.
The banks and advisers hired by online ministers will execute the actual sales. All ministries with state assets earmarked for privatisation in their portfolios are entitled to hire their own advisers, as are parastatal heads themselves.
Sigcau indicated last year that the government wanted to see Sun Air sold off in the first half of this year. Gordhan could not be reached for comment.
Wandile Zote, a Public Enterprises representative, said that according to the Department of Transport an announcement on the winning adviser would be made on Friday afternoon.
Virgin Atlantic, which last year entered into a partnership deal with Sun Air, whereby the local carrier now handles Virgin’s connecting South African flights, has expressed interest in buying the airline.
Maharaj reportedly said last year he would prefer to see Sun Air bought by a local group. He said: “I would like a South African investor or consortium to buy it, but I would check carefully to ensure it isn’t a front for a large foreign airline such as British Airways or Singapore Airlines. That would give them a strategic foothold here and enable them to undercut South African Airways.”