Johannesburg - South Africa’s government has held exploratory talks with banks that could potentially advise it on the sale of state assets, the head of the National Treasury said.
Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene announced in his maiden mid-term budget yesterday that stakes in listed and unlisted companies and real estate may be sold off to help state power utility Eskom plug a 225 billion-rand funding gap.
The government hasn’t identified the assets, he said.
“I do know there have been conversations” about the sales, Lungisa Fuzile, the Treasury’s director-general, said in Cape Town yesterday.
“We talk to investment banks, at least formally twice, informally several times, in the year just to understand the lay of the land, to understand that if government were to pursue certain strategies how would the market respond. It does not mean a decision has been taken.”
Fuzile said he couldn’t name the banks as he wasn’t directly involved in the talks.
The government is exploring selling its 13.9 percent stake in mobile-phone company Vodacom worth about 26 billion rand, according to four people with knowledge of the possible sale, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private.
“The government is looking at a range of non-core assets,” Jabulani Sikhakhane, Nene’s spokesman, said in Cape Town.
“No bankers have been appointed to assist with this process.” - Bloomberg News