/ 7 December 1999

Govt to speed up privatisation

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 3.20pm

PUBLIC Enterprises Minister Jeff Radebe said on Tuesday the government wants to speed up the restructuring of state assets and will first focus its attention on the biggest state-owned companies to that end.

”We agreed that while the restructuring and disposal of non-core entities will proceed apace, we will focus on the big four as priority,” Radebe said in a statement.

Radebe said of the top 30 state-owned enterprises, electricity generator Eskom, transport group Transnet, telephone service provider Telkom and defense firm Denel make up 91% of total assets.

He said Eskom should provide regrouping proposals by January 31 2000, and said he wants a detailed business plan from its subsidiary, Eskom Enterprises, by the same date.

The minister said he will seek strategic equity partners for the various divisions of Denel, including an international equity partner for Denel Aerospace by January 31 next year.

On Transnet, he sought an urgent disposal of the company’s non-core assets and said the government will set up a joint task team to look at restructuring the group’s onerous debt.

Further, the government plans to look into restructuring Portnet and Petronet, both divisions of Transnet, and seek equity partners for Orex and Coal-link by September 30 2000.

The government said it will produce a progress report on state asset restructuring by March 31 2000, and would seek to agree on performance targets with the big four enterprises by then. — Reuters