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Date : 21/01/2003
Source: Department of Public Enterprises
Title: Radebe: Registration phase of Telkom IPO a huge success


MEDIA STATEMENT BY MINISTER JEFF RADEBE, MINISTER OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES: REGISTRATION PHASE OF TELKOM IPO A HUGE SUCCESS

A piece of history was written last week. During the course of Thursday, the 16th of January, we reached the one million mark in our registration drive for the Telkom Share Offer.

This figure has far exceeded all Government's expectations as Government, and is a resounding vote of support for our broad programme to restructure state-owned assets.

The response is, quite simply, phenomenal. The figure of one-million registrations is more than four times our expectations, and is particularly significant when viewed against similar initiatives in the private sector - particularly considering that a fair degree of effort was involved for all those who registered: in many cases, they had to travel to post offices to fill in forms, and sometimes stand in queues to ensure their registration applications were received on time.

In the next few weeks, all these potential investors will be sent a company prospectus enabling them to examine the company's finances and management, so they can make a decision on whether or not to buy shares.

Details of how many of those who have registered can be regarded as historically disadvantaged individuals (HDIs) will be provided as the applications for shares are being processed. We will obviously only be able to provide this sort of analysis on an ongoing basis as shares applications are being received, a few weeks from now.

We can, however, state with confidence that our programme to ensure the active of involvement of non-traditional investors has succeeded -- and those we have helped vast numbers of people understand investing in the securities environment through our outreach campaign.

We are particularly pleased with our Public Education Campaign, which was run over a nine-week period ending mid-December 2002.

At the heart of the campaign was a programme of 230 financial literacy workshops, aimed primarily at rural communities and covering the length and breadth of our country. The workshops, conducted by trained adult educators from non-governmental organisations, were specifically designed to help people understand what an Initial Public Offering (IPO) is, how shares are bought and traded, and the pros and cons of investing on the securities exchange.

Close to 50 000 people attended these workshops, the majority of which were held in rural parts of the country -- indicating to us a real thirst for financial and investment knowledge, and confirming our decision to put such a heavy emphasis on informing and empowering historically disadvantaged individuals.

The education campaign also included an advertising campaign, supported by millions of brochures that were distributed through post offices and selected banks. In addition, we spread the message through community radio broadcasts to inform people of public education meetings, and to build awareness of the broad IPO process. Using a combination of community announcements and a drama series, specifically produced to build financial literacy levels in communities, we were able to take the IPO message into the most remote parts of our country. All these initiatives were backed up by a specially developed website and call centre, to enable people to get more information on the share offer.

We believe the investment in the public education campaign has been more than worthwhile - as can be seen in the response to the registration drive - and particularly important for the empowerment of historically disadvantaged individuals.

I wish to take this opportunity to clarify Government's position on the Khulisa offer. There has been significant commentary on this offer, and confusion as to who the intended beneficiaries ought to be. I trust that my comments that follow on this offer will, once and for all, clear up any misunderstanding that may exist. The Khulisa offer is open to participation by all South Africans, and has a built-in preference for historically disadvantaged individuals and stokvels. This is consistent with Government policy, and is situated within the provisions of the Bill of Rights.

The scheme, by its very nature is intended to target low-income earners, in that it has a lock up period of three months, it has an individual participation cap of R5000,00, and it includes a loyalty bonus for those individuals who retain their shares for a minimum period of two years. This scheme was deliberately designed to encourage a culture of saving amongst historically disadvantaged individuals, and to present the equity market as an opportunity to accumulate capital, whilst also informing them of the risks of share ownership. Our intensive education campaign and our deliberate focus on HDIs in both urban and rural areas bear testimony to this approach. Participants in this scheme will qualify for a discount and the allocation procedure will be defined in such a manner that HDIs and stokvels will have a preference. For those South Africans, both black and white, who do not wish to be constrained by the restrictions placed on the Khulisa scheme in terms of the lock up period and the R5000 cap, these individuals are invited to subscribe to the general retail offer, which has no restrictions on trading and no cap on participation. This general retail offer will also be discounted, but not to the same extent as the Khulisa offer. It is therefore possible that all South African citizens can concurrently participate in both the Khulisa offer and the general retail offer.

At this stage, we would like to remind people that the registration phase is only open until the 23rd of January, and urge those who have not yet done so to become involved in this historic process. We would particularly like to encourage stokvels to explore the opportunities presented by the IPO, and by the Khulisa offer in particular.

They, like us, can look forward with anticipation to the historic day on which we list Telkom on the JSE and the NYSE.

21 January 2003
Contact: Pumla Mtyeku, Department of Public Enterprises, Phone: 0829032423
Source: Department of Public Enterprises (http://www.dpe.gov.za)

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