Denel has confirmed it is selling its 22.98% stake in arivia.kom. The transaction should be finalised by the financial year-end, which is the end of March, says Pottie Potgieter, Denel`s group executive, commercial business.
Arivia.kom reported revenue of R1.59 billion and a net profit of R63 million in the year to 31 March 2005.
Potgieter says the transaction is part of the implementation of a board decision to divest Denel of all non-core assets. He says Eskom and Transnet, which respectively own 31.96% and 45.06% of shares in arivia.kom, have pre-emptive rights for the stake and will let Denel know in due course whether they will purchase the stake.
The Department of State Enterprises had not clarified whether it would exercise the pre-emptive right at the time of publication.
Potgieter says the arivia stake also went through a tender process and a number of potential buyers were short-listed. However, he would not disclose the names of the short-listed companies.
Last year arivia CEO Zeth Malele expressed a hope that an empowerment partner would be found by August 2005. However, he says now that the partner has not been found yet.
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