Vodacom signs agreement with BEE partners

Vodacom on Thursday said transaction agreements have been signed with Royal Bafokeng Holdings and Thebe Investment Corp., which in April were selected as its strategic partners in a broad-based black economic empowerment deal.

Royal Bafokeng Holdings is the primary investment vehicle of the Royal Bafokeng Nation, a 300,000 strong broad-based black community situated in the North West province. Thebe Investment is a diversified investment management company whose main shareholder is the Batho Batho Trust, which is a community- based organization.

The signing of the transaction agreements is a further step forward for the BEE transaction.

Vodacom said it will be announcing the details of the broad-based BEE transaction in the third quarter of this calendar year.

Vodacom is equally owned by South Africa’s Telkom SA Ltd. (NYSE:TKG) (TKG) and Britain’s Vodafone Group PLC (NYSE:VOD) (VOD).

The BEE transaction will comprise three participant groupings: Vodacom South African staff at 25%, black South African public and Vodacom black business partners at 30% and broad-based strategic partners at 45%.