Business tycoon Tokyo Sexwale’s Mvelaphanda Group will buy up to 30 percent of Johnnic Communication’s media unit in a R1.4-billion deal, a Sens announcement said on Tuesday.
“Mvela Group is pleased to announce it has concluded an agreement with Allan Gray to acquire a minimum of 25.1 percent and a maximum of 30 percent interest in Opco when it’s unbundled from Johncom and independently listed on the main board of the JSE Limited,” said the Sens statement.
Mvelaphanda Group will buy the stake for R1.4-billion cash and will pay an extra amount if the company’s net cash holdings are more than R50-million. It will pay less if the cash holdings are less than R50-million. That will be determined once Opco is listed.
Johncom announced in April that it would unbundle its media and entertainment assets into a new company called Opco. It will be listed on the JSE once Johncom’s interests in M-Net and SuperSport are disposed of.
Earlier this week, Johncom said that it had ended talks with black economic empowerment groups because the intended deal failed to get 75 percent support from shareholders.
Sexwale’s group has expressed interest in acquiring media assets and bought a stake in the parent company of Maverick magazine in March this year.