South Africa’s government on Wednesday sold its 13.9% stake in Vodacom for 23 billion rand (€1.7 billion).
The shares have been acquired by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which acted on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF).
It means the PIC, which already owned 3.19% of Vodacom, has become the operator’s second biggest single shareholder after parent Vodafone, which owns 65%.
"We are proud to have acquired these shares on behalf of the GEPF and believe that more benefit will be derived from this investment," said Daniel Matija, CEO of the PIC, in a statement. "Vodacom is a well-managed blue-chip South African company with credible exposure in the rest of Africa and strongly underpinned by its corpora te governance practices."
The government will use the proceeds to prop up ailing state-owned electricity provider Eskom. The utility, which generates 95% of the country’s electricity, is struggling to overcome a ZAR225 billion (€16.6 billion) revenue shortfall while at the same time trying add capacity by building new power stations.
Eskom requested permission to raise prices, but was refused last week by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).
South Africa’s power grid is creaking under the weight of increased demand, and Eskom is conducting regular rolling blackouts – also known as load shedding – in a bid to avoid a nationwide outage. Its Website carries advice on how households and businesses can reduce their energy consumption.
