MTN secret out
MTN’s best kept secret is out, hold on to your shares. At least chief executive Phuthuma Nhleko is reluctant to get rid of his.
Nhleko had the option of selling 2 million shares in the company he shepherds, but only sold about 877 000, at a value of more than R90-million.
Had he exercised the full option, he would have cashed in more than R200-million. As of March 2008, Nhleko had a 1.03% direct shareholding in MTN that amounted to R2.3-billion. He then bought 1 million shares in November and added another million to his portfolio last week.
Cadiz Asset Management portfolio manager Rajay Ambekar said this was a sign of good faith in the company. He said: “Apart from the options, he made net purchases of R200-million during the year.
He bought R100-million worth of shares at R73 per share.
“In December, he bought another R100-million. The selling was in relation to his option. He sold less than half when he could have sold the lot. He will be receiving about R300-million when the Newshelf [BEE] entity is wound down, so he’ll be getting a lot of cash coming in this year.”
In 2005, MTN executive directors established a holding company that held 18.7% of MTN on behalf of 2400 black managers and staff. The shareholding is now 13.1%, worth R24-billion.
Late last year, MTN announced that it would unwind Newshelf, starting off with a special dividend of R3.1-billion that would be paid to the beneficiaries of Newshelf.
Once Newshelf is dissolved, MTN will not have an empowerment vehicle. The company has already said that it would make proposals to shareholders for the implementation of a new BEE transaction during the first half of this year.
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