This is who owns Cell C
Cell C’s shareholders are Blue Label Telecoms, the Employee Believe Trust, Nedbank, CellSAf, Net1, and Gramercy.
It was revealed during an analyst presentation about Cell C by Blue Label Telecoms co-CEO Brett Levy.
In September, Blue Label concluded a deal to restructure and refinance Cell C and reduce its debt to give it a healthier balance sheet.
As part of the deal, new money was injected into Cell C to stabilise the company and provide the liquidity needed to operate and grow its business.
Through The Prepaid Company (TPC), Blue Label lent Cell C R1.03 billion to pay the “20c to the rand” claims from secured lenders.
TPC also purchased R2.4 billion in prepaid airtime from Cell C and committed to purchasing minimum levels of prepaid airtime per an agreed monthly schedule.
Following Cell C’s recapitalisation, Blue Label holds 49.53% of the shares, making it the largest shareholder in the company.
Levy said the Blue Label board has two choices regarding Cell C — increase its shareholding and take control of Cell C or sell some of its shares.
He did not commit to either option, saying time will tell which option the board prefers.
Cell C’s new shareholders
During the presentation, Levy was forthcoming about Cell C and Blue Label’s financial positions, which included revealing the mobile operators’ shareholders.
He said Blue Label increased its shareholding from 45% to 49.5%, while Net1’s shareholding decreased from 15% to 5.1%.
Two of Cell C’s debt holders, Nedbank and Gramercy Funds Management, own 7.5% and 6%, respectively.
Gramercy is an emerging markets investment manager based in Greenwich, Connecticut, with offices in London and Buenos Aires.
Cell C’s empowerment partner, CellSAf, owns 3%, management owns 2.5%, and the Employee Believe Trust holds most of the other shares.
However, the Employee Believe Trust’s shares are held in three special purpose vehicles (SPVs) – SPV 1 (4%), SPV 4 (10.5%), and SPV 5 (10%) – as security for Blue Label claims.
After the claims are paid, the shares will be transferred to the Employee Believe Trust. The Trust’s beneficiaries are the staff and CellSAf.
Levy did not comment on the remaining 1.9%.
This article was first published by Daily Investor and is republished with permission.
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