JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-South African investment company VenFin has committed itself to purchasing the remainder of what U.K. cellular company Vodafone does not buy of Hosken Consolidated Investments’ (HCI) 5-percent stake in mobile company Vodacom.
A spokesman for VenFin said the company had reached an agreement with Vodafone to purchase HCI’s 5-percent interest in Vodacom for 1.5 billion rand (US$156 million).
VenFin owns 13.5 percent of Vodacom, while Vodafone holds a 31.5-percent share. VenFin and HCI clashed earlier in the year over consensus in finalizing the sale. At the time, Venfin believed the deal had been concluded, while HCI maintained there had been no binding agreement.
“It has not yet been finalized what percentage of the Vodacom interest will be acquired by VenFin, a spokesman said. “But VenFin has given an irrevocable undertaking to HCI that on or before 20 December, 2002, VenFin shall accept the offer in relation to such percentage of the Vodacom interest that the Vodafone Group has not irrevocably agreed to accept at such time.”
