Author: Gugu Lourie

MIC Investment Holdings (MIC) has disposed of its empowerment shareholding in Westcon Southern Africa (Westcon SA). MIC is an investment company and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mineworkers Investment Company. The Mineworker’s Investment Company is a 100% black-owned broad-based investment holding company that was established by the Mineworkers Investment Trust (MIT) to provide ongoing funding for the Trust’s social and educational projects. MIC has sold off its 40% stake to Ascension Capital Partners, a private equity investor. “I am delighted to welcome Ascension as our new BEE partner in Westcon SA and thank the MIC for its valued contributions during its nine…

Cell C, South Africa’s troubled mobile phone operator that is half-owned by JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms, is being run by an illegal board of directors, Cell C’s empowerment partner alleges. Claims are that 3C, the holding company of Cell C, has since last year been ‘fraudulently’ constituted. Cell C was founded in November 2001 and 3C Telecommunications owned 100% of the mobile phone operator. When Cell C was finally recapitalised in 2017 by Blue Label Telecoms, which ended up owning 45%, JSE and Nasdaq-listed Net1 UEPS Technologies took 15%, 3C Telecommunications reduced its 100% stake to 30%, and Cell C…

Black investors in Phuthuma Nathi, the broad-based black economic empowerment arm of pay-TV operator MultiChoice, will share more than R1.5 billion in dividends. MultiChoice South Africa (MCSA) today declared a dividend to Phuthuma Nathi (PN) shareholders of R1.5 billion, an increase of 13.6% from 2018. The company said the additional 5% share allocation given to PN, as part of MultiChoice Group’s (MCG) listing on the JSE, contributed to the increase in dividend declared to PN shareholders. PN is one of the most successful Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) schemes in South Africa. PN owns a 25% stake in MCSA, the…

This September, the Frankfurt Motor Show will provide the backdrop for the world premiere of the third-generation BMW X6. At the event, BMW will also present a spectacular one-off vehicle with a Vantablack VBx2 nanostructure paint finish that highlights the expressive design language and confident, dominant and muscular appearance of the new BMW X6 to perfection. The BMW X6 is the first and only vehicle in the world to feature a Vantablack VBx2 paint finish. “We turned down numerous requests from various automobile manufacturers in the past,” explains Ben Jensen, founder and Chief Technical Officer of Surrey NanoSystems. “It took…

Mbelieves the state should leverage private-sector expertise in the broadband roll-out, rather than relying exclusively on state-owned companies (SOCs). This was contained in the economic policy paper titled Economic Transformation, Inclusive Growth and Competitiveness: Towards an Economic Strategy for South Africa published on National Treasury’s website on Tuesday evening. The economic policy paper outlines bold vision by the South African national treasury calling South African Government to implement a series of growth reforms that promote economic transformation, support labour-intensive growth, and create a globally competitive economy. The plan is aimed at dealing with the country’s moribund GDP growth rate and tackle…

Standard Bank has invested $4 million (R61 million) in South Africa’s FinTech firm Nomanini. The investment has enabled the local bank to have an undisclosed stake in the Cape Town-based FinTech company. The deal will also enable Standard Bank to use Nomanini’s platform to unearth previously ‘invisible’ data on the informal retail economy. Nomanini connects merchants and distributors to each other and global service providers, integrating payments, working capital, and data analytics to unlock the latent potential of Africa’s economy. It turns any mobile device into a retail point-of-sale solution for informal merchants that is connected to an interoperable merchant…

JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms has tried to reassure the market after its share price plummeted by more than 7.43% to close at R2.74 a share on Thursday. At 15:58, the share price was down 1.47% at R2.68 and the stock has tumbled 23% in the past seven days. For more read: Blue Label Telecoms Shares Continue to Tank as Tough Week Continues for Cell C The company, which owns half of the ailing Cell C, referred investors to the announcement by the mobile phone operator in which S&P Global Rating published a report downgrading Cell C to D (Default). Blue…

Shares in Blue Label Telecoms have continued to dive after a week to forget for the JSE-listed group. On Thursday, shares in Blue Label Telecoms, which owns half of Cell C, tumbled 7.43% to close at R2.74 a share. Blue Label Telecoms’ share price reached a new low of R2.67 after dropping 1.84% by 13:07 today, pushing its market value to R2.4 billion. Back in October 2016, Blue Label Telecoms’ market value shot up to R19.3 billion when the firm invested in Cell C. The downward spiral of Blue Label Telecoms shares is attributed to the woes of Cell C,…

South Africans are increasingly unhappy with mobile service providers. But while they are unhappy they are not changing their mobile service providers, such as Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, and Telkom. The number of people choosing to change their mobile network operator without losing their mobile number is sitting at 77,019 every month. This is according to Number Portability Company (NPC), which was supposed to protect the customer by enabling him or her to vote with their feet when they are not happy with the Telco services, seems concerned with service woes. The NPC is owned jointly by Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Telkom,…

Not so long ago Blue Label Telecoms was one of the darlings of the JSE, with its share price showing no signs of slowing down. Blue Label Telecoms listed on the JSE in November 2007 at R6.75 a share and attracted global tech giant Microsoft as an investor (which later sold its shareholding in 2010). The company’s growth enabled it to buy half of the mobile phone operator Cell C. Blue Label Telecoms’ market value shot up to R19.3 billion in October 2016 when the firm invested in Cell C. The market cap, however, has shrunk to about R3 billion…