The South African government will not interfere in Transnet’s bid to find a broad-based empowerment partner to buy the parastatal’s 5% stake in the MTN Group, it emerged on Wednesday — a day after Transnet announced it had ended months of talks with Umthunzi Telecoms Consortium.
Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin Erwin’s spokesperson, Gaynor Kast, reiterated that the department — under which the transport utility falls — does not get involved in operational matters.
The Transnet-Umthunzi deal was first announced in April last year when Erwin’s predecessor, Jeff Radebe, said that the Sandile Zungu-led Umthunzi had pipped nine other black economic empowerment (BEE) bidders to land a deal valued at R2,5-billion for 80,3-million shares in the listed cellphone company.
Losing bidders included the Nedbank-backed Glacier Consortium; Sakhikamva, led by Luvuyo Mkangelwa; and Kennedy Memani’s Nexus Connexion, a BEE investor with a 19% shareholding in Telkom’s rival — the yet-to-be-licensed fixed-line second national operator.
Umthunzi was not available for comment on Wednesday.
MTN shares rose by 0,44% or 21 cents to close at R48 per share on Wednesday. — I-Net Bridge