Sekunjalo eyes digital media expansion

·19 Feb 2013

Iqbal Survé, founder and chairman of the Sekunjalo Group, says he will allocate capital towards expanding the digital offerings within Independent Newspapers’ South African division.

Irish based group, The Independent News and Media (INM), has agreed to sell its South African unit to Sekunjalo Independent Media Consortium, led by Survé, for a price of R2 billion.

INM SA includes online news portal, iol.co.za, and print titles including The Star, the Sunday Independent, The Mercury, and the Cape Times.

“We wanted to bring this asset back home,” Survé told BusinessTech, by way of motivation for acquiring the business. “It’s important to have it back in our hands. I believe in the growth of our economy.”

While Citibank acted as advisors to Sekunjalo, Survé said that the group was not the highest bidder, at R2 billion, with one bid coming in at R2.6 billion. It was reported that the owners of South African daily The New Age, the Gupta family, also made a bid.

“It’s been a tough bidding process, but we are happy to have been the team chosen. Maintaining jobs is our main priority,” Survé said.

On the group’s expansion plans, Survé said he would look to expand the group’s vernacular titles following on from the success of Zulu language daily, Isolezwe.

“There is huge potential to convert our portals,” the company lead said, adding that he would allocate capital towards expanding the group’s digital presence.

The deal still requires both INM shareholder approval and Competition Commission approval in South Africa, but Survé is confident that it will go through, noting his experience of having conducted 40 acquisitions over the past 10 years.