Date: 02/04/2004
Source: Department of Public Enterprises
Title: J Radebe: Announcement of winning bidder of MTN shares


STATEMENT BY JEFF RADEBE, MP, MINISTER OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES, 2 April 2004

Members of the media will recall that Government has pursued the disposal of shares held in MTN through Transnet as one of the ways to address the restructuring of Transnet and the reorganization of its financial operations. In July 2000, Government made the first move by converting its then 23% stake in MTN into shares in its holding company M-Cell Limited. As part of that agreement, we sold 75 million shares to the Johnnic Group for R2,475 billion. In January 2002, the monetisation of another 20% of our MTN stake raised a further R5, 3 billion, and the state has since received dividends to a total value of some R1, 759 billion.

In September last year, we placed a tender for the disposal of over 80 million shares in MTN held through Transnet and the Transnet M-Cell Trust. After a detailed, thorough and transparent bidding process, Government is pleased to confirm the appointment of Umthunzi Telecoms Consortium (Pty) Ltd as the preferred bidder for the stake. Umthunzi's appointment follows a unanimous decision of the transaction's Bid Evaluation Committee made up of officials from the DPE, National Treasury and Transnet. All relevant parties within Transnet, the Trust and the Board of Trustees of the Second Defined Benefit Fund have approved the transaction.

Government expects the transaction's value to be about R2,4 billion. We also expect final negotiations with the Consortium to be completed within about 2 weeks.

The successful conclusion of this particular transaction will increase the total amount of restructuring proceeds from 1997 to the present to over R38 billion.

A more detailed statement has been made available to the media. Members of the preferred bidder are here, along with Transnet representatives and are available to take any questions.

Thanks.

For more details contact:
Miranda Strydom
Cell: 082 908 8976
Issued by: Department of Public Enterprises
2 April 2004