Zweli Mokgata

Zweli Mokgata

Vodacom's YeboYethu public BEE share offer was eagerly snatched up by black investors to become three times oversubscribed.

The offer attracted around 100000 applications, with almost two thirds for the minimum amount of 100 shares. More than half the applicants were women, according to Vodacom's records.

Alan Knott-Craig, Vodacom chief executive, said: "Vodacom's BEE transaction, which includes the YeboYethu public offer, has been a huge success and I'm pleased to say it has surpassed our expectations."

The processing of applications has been under way since the closure on September 11 and has involved checking details and collating information.

Shares in Vodacom South Africa were sold at R25 each.

The broad-based empowerment deal was worth R7,2billion, an estimated five to seven percent share in the company.

Applicants will be notified of the amount of shares allocated to them "within the next few weeks" and refunds for those shares applied for but not allocated will be processed at the same time.

Not all applicants will receive the amount of shares applied for because of oversubscription.

Shares will be allocated as per the guidelines set out in the YeboYethu prospectus.

Interest on funds for shares applied for but not allocated will be calculated from the closing date until the date of the refund.

When the deal was first announced observers commented about the lack of clarity on the methods used to arrive at the share price that people paid.

Dobek Pater, director at ICT research firm Africa Analysis, said that if Vodacom was listed on the JSE exchange when Telkom sold off its stake in the cellular company, the listing price would have to be the same or higher than the YeboYethu shares.

He said that Vodafone, which has a 50 percent share in Vodafone, would buy enough shares to gain managing control of the company and the remainder would be floated on the JSE.