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Johannesburg - Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa completed negotiations for the sale of most of his business interests to a company led by MTN Group chairperson Phuthuma Nhleko, creating a billion dollar black-owned company, people familiar with the matter said.
Ramaphosa’s family trust sold his 30% stake in Shanduka Group, the group he founded in 2001 after quitting government when he was beaten to the post of Nelson Mandela’s deputy by Thabo Mbeki, three people said, asking not to be identified because the information hasn’t been made public.
He will retain investments in property and the South African franchise of McDonald’s.
The combination of closely held Shanduka and Nhleko’s Pembani Group will create a company with assets of R11bn ($918m), according to estimates made by the companies last year. After at least a year of negotiations all legal documents have been signed and the transaction is now awaiting approval from regulators, the people said.
Shanduka has stakes in 29 businesses, ranging from Standard Bank Group, Africa’s biggest lender, to mobile phone company MTN and a coal mining venture with Glencore.
Ramaphosa’s remaining company shareholdings will he held in blind trusts, his office said last year. Shanduka’s net asset value, including the business interests Ramaphosa’s family trust will retain, was R8.8bn as of May last year.
Shanduka spokesperson Lorraine Jagesar and Pembani spokesperson Lufuno Makhari weren’t immediately available when their offices were called. Ramaphosa's spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa declined to comment.
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Ramaphosa (62) re-entered politics in 2012 when he became deputy president of the ruling African National Congress and he became deputy national president last year.
His divestment completes a promise to resolve any conflicts of interest since becoming the country’s deputy president. Prior to 1994 he formed the country’s biggest labour union, led negotiations that ended apartheid and helped to write South Africa’s democratic constitution.
With a fortune of $550m Ramaphosa is the country’s second-richest black person after Patrice Motsepe, his brother-in-law, according to the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times newspaper.
Nhleko is the fifth-richest black South African with assets of $142m, according to the newspaper. He pioneered MTN to become Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator.
Pembani holds a stake in a South African fuel retailer controlled by Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional and has investments in companies including the South African coal unit of BHP Billiton.
As a black-owned company, the new entity, which is yet to be given a name, will benefit from legislation seeking to support black people in business to make up for discrimination under apartheid.
