Johannesburg, 09 May 2006
State-owned ICT company arivia.kom is expected to wrap up its large-scale restructuring and realignment programme in about a month and could soon also reveal details about its empowerment strategy.
Earlier this year, COO Hugo Knoetze indicated the realignment of arivia and its businesses has touched even the senior management levels within the group, as the company positions itself for improved service delivery and financial robustness.
He admitted that heads have rolled for non-performance, driven by the company`s vision to hire the "best of the best", with a strong focus on black economic empowerment (BEE) and skills development.
However, details have been scant about the company`s progress in identifying an equity BEE partner. Knoetze explained recently that finding an empowerment partner did not form part of the operational restructuring exercise, but would be dealt with on a shareholder level.
Arivia CEO Zeth Malele said this morning that, while he is not aware of any potential BEE deal at this stage, the issue would be discussed at a shareholders` meeting next week. He indicated the company would likely be in a position to reveal more details at that time.
He declined to give more details at this stage, saying he would prefer not to speculate on the matter.
Shareholding in limbo
However, the company`s shareholding structure is also in limbo. It is known that Eskom and Transnet, the remaining shareholders in arivia, are sooner or later expected to exit the company, in line with government`s policy for parastatals to disinvest from non-core assets.
State-owned defence group Denel, which until March was the third arivia shareholder, shed its 22.98% interest in the ICT group. Market observers, at the time, speculated the stake could be earmarked for a BEE entity, but it was instead reabsorbed by Transnet and Eskom.
The move fuelled speculation that an appropriate BEE partner could not be found, as Denel had initially intended to sell the stake via tender. However, the process was scrapped, and it appeared that Denel`s desperate financial state pushed ahead the disinvestment, slightly increasing Eskom`s and Transnet`s stakes.
Sandra Coetzee, deputy director-general of the Department of Public Enterprises` Governance and Transactional Division, says both parastatals are carrying out due diligence studies to determine the most suitable manner to exit arivia.
At this stage, neither Transnet nor Eskom can provide a timeline for disinvesting, but the electricity utility has previously indicated it may hold onto its stake for some time. It said non-core businesses would be evaluated in terms of quality of investment before decisions are made about their disposal.
Meanwhile, arivia`s Malele and Knoetze have stated in the past that a shareholding change would not affect arivia`s operations and have refused to speculate about the group`s future shareholding structure.
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