Africa’s largest asset manager, the Public Investment Corporation, is backing a possible bid led by the former chief executive of Telkom SA SOC Ltd for a 35% stake in South Africa’s third-biggest mobile phone company, according to people familiar with the matter.
The 35% stake could also be combined with the PIC’s current shareholding to boost the overall holding of the group, they said.Telkom said the company was in a closed period, and would update the market on June 13 on its strategy to unlock value.Afrifund’s Maseko declined to comment on the matter. Such an agreement would further merge the mobile businesses of the two firms, and Telkom’s BCX unit could be sold, said the people.
Telkom, a former state monopoly that controlled the legacy landline business, has spent years trying to reinvent itself as a mobile and internet provider but hasn’t been able to keep up.