Vodacom shares tumbled almost 8% on Wednesday after parent, the UK-headquartered Vodafone, said it had sold a chunk of its shares worth almost R15bn to meet the JSE’s 20% free-float requirement.
Vodafone said it sold about 90m shares in Vodacom at R165/share in an accelerated book-build process to institutional shareholders.
This is after Vodafone disposed of its 35% stake in Kenya’s Safaricom to Vodacom, in the process increasing its stake in Vodacom from 65% to nearly 70%.
The share sale has reduced Vodafone’s shareholding in the Johannesburg-headquartered Vodacom to about 64.5%, just less than what it was prior to the Safaricom transaction.
Vodafone assured investors that it will continue to retain a “controlling majority shareholding” in Vodacom.
At the close on Wednesday, Vodacom’s shares were 7.9% lower at R164.28. So far this year, the shares have gained 6.5%. — (c) 2017 NewsCentral Media