Last Updated- Mar 24, 2009 11:18 - - 0 Comments


Talks on sale of TV unit ongoing – Telkom

Telkom Ltd., Africa’s largest fixed-line telephone operator, said talks over its Telkom Media television unit were “ongoing” after the Business Report newspaper said the division may be shut.

“You can’t put a timeline on discussions,” Pynee Chetty, a spokesman for Pretoria-based Telkom, said today. The rationale for the company’s “move out of Telkom Media” remains the same as a plan announced at a March 31, 2008, presentation, Nicola White, Telkom’s head of investor relations, said in an e-mailed response to questions. Both declined further comment.

Telkom Chief Executive Officer Reuben September said on Nov. 17 that the company was close to completing a deal to “substantially” cut its stake in the business because it will take too long to make returns. September said on Dec. 3 that Telkom will complete the sale by the end of 2008. Telkom Media was awarded a satellite and pay-TV cable broadcasting license by South Africa’s broadcast regulator in September 2007.

Telkom may shut down the unit after talks to sell its 66 percent stake in the business failed because Telkom wanted to be compensated for the money it had invested in the division, Business Report said today, citing an unidentified person familiar with the plan. The unit has reduced by half the 379 staff members it employed at the end of March last year, it said.

The stock gained 1.70 rand, or 1.6 percent, to 107 rand as of 9:18 a.m. in Johannesburg trading, giving Telkom a market value of 56.7 billion rand ($6 billion).

Source: Bloomberg

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