Avusa shares jump on Koni bid

According to The Times Online, the news website owned by Avusa, the group's chief executive Prakash Desai and non-executive chairperson Mashudu Ramano told the media that the offer was for the "outright purchase" of the company.

It said that last year, Business Times had revealed that Koni Media, owned by South African President Thabo Mbeki's adviser Titus Mafolo, foreign affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa, former chief of state protocol Billy Modise and businessperson Groovin Nchabeleng, had launched a bid for the whole of Avusa.

Other media reports from Business Day newspaper said that Mbeki defended Koni Media's bid for Avusa, or what was then known as Johncom prior to the company's name change last year.

It quoted Mbeki as saying: "It is not illegal for public servants to own shares in public companies."

However, the newspaper also said that the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) was deeply concerned about political office bearers and public servants acquiring interests in independent media.

"While Sanef recognises that there is nothing in law preventing such activity, we believe that the potential for direct political influence over the media is unhealthy for democracy," the newspaper quoted Sanef deputy chairperson Henry Jeffreys as saying.

But an analyst warned that "we have been here before", adding that market players should just "take the news with a pinch of salt".

He said that some market players might be pushing the share up on the news, as it valued the company at 5 billion rand, but he didn't think that long-term market players would drive the share higher.

By 16:34 on the JSE, Avusa's share price was up 400c, or 9.76%, to 4 500c.

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