Did Ramaphosa just score R2.5 billion?

·2 Jun 2015

South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to make in excess of R2.5 billion ($200 million) from the sale of his investment company, Shanduka Group to Pembani Group.

This is according to Forbes, who said that, while the terms of the deal have not been disclosed, the businessman-turned-politician is set to earn at least $200 million from the sale.

Forbes said it used a 2011 transaction in which the China Investment Corporation paid $245 million for a 25% stake in the firm, as a benchmark.

It further cited a local investment banker as saying that the deputy president may have scored more than $300 million (R3.7 billion) in the deal.

Pembani Group, which is controlled by Phuthuma Nhleko, the chairman of Africa’s biggest mobile operator, MTN Group, will merge with Shanduka Group, the companies said in a statement on Monday.

“The group will have a portfolio value in excess of 9 billion rand ($734 million) which will give it significant scale, with liquidity to pursue value-creating opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa,” Pembani said in a statement.

Shanduka has stakes in 29 businesses, including Standard Bank Group, MTN, McDonald’s South African subsidiaries (70%), Coca-Cola bottling plants (70%), and a coal-mining venture with Glencore.

According to Bloomberg, Ramaphosa’s family trust had a 30% stake in Shanduka, which he founded in 2001.

The news agency put Ramaphosa’s fortune at $550 million (R6.75 billion), behind only Patrice Motsepe as the country’s wealthiest black South African. Nhleko is believed to have assets of $142 million.

Pembani said Ramaphosa will have no direct shareholding or commercial interests after exiting ‘with minorities’.

Last week, Pembani announced that the Pembani Remgro infrastructure fund had raised $245 million, with a promise of another $100 million, for investment in infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa.

Pembani is chaired by Nhleko, while former Standard Bank and Absa executive Kennedy Bungane is chief executive officer.