Media group Naspers is giving traditional black economic empowerment (BEE) giants a run for their money in the ownership element of the empowerment scorecard.
For the second consecutive year, Naspers is featured in the Top 10 of the TEC's ownership ranking. This time around, the group closes the Top 10 list - ranked 10th - with a total ownership score of 21,95. That is a 100% pass plus 1,2 bonus points reserved for excellent performers. Naspers registered 30% in black economic interests and voting rights.
Naspers's BEE ownership credentials were catapulted into the premium class after the group concluded two major deals in 2007. These deals transferred 15% in each of Naspers's subsidiaries, MultiChoice and Media24, to a mass of black shareholders through a public offer.
The 2007 Naspers deals added to the proliferation of BEE public offers targeted at the black retail investor as opposed to benefiting the socalled usual suspects. In its R29bn BEE deal, petrochemicals giant Sasol allocated about 25% of this transaction to black retail investors at a huge discount. Mobile phone giant Vodacom did the same thing in its R7,5bn BEE deal. Retailers have chosen to totally shun independent BEE partners by doing deals that exclusively benefit their employees. Examples include Massmart, Woolworths and Edcon.
The proliferation of these deals has raised concerns. The argument is that though broad-based BEE is desirable, overenthusiasm will defeat the purpose. That is because broad-based BEE deals ignore the control of the enterprise.
The TEC's ownership ranking is led by Cape Town-based Sekunjalo Investments. The group, founded by Iqbal Survé, who now serves as executive chairman, produced a black ownership score of 23. Sekunjalo is essentially an investment holding group that owns a variety of assets in the IT, health-care, financial services and industrial sectors. Sekunjalo was ranked as the most empowered entity in the TEC survey of 2006.
Sekunjalo is followed by packaging group Astrapak, which concluded its BEE deal in 2005. This deal transferred 20% of the consumer goods packager to Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH). An RBH partnership comes with an added bonus for traditionally white corporations. Though RBH is a well-organised BEE entity, it also brings to the party a critical broad-based element as it is backed by the more than 300 000 Royal Bafokeng tribesmen who are supposedly ultimate beneficiaries of RBH investments. Astrapak now boasts 57% in black economic interest and voting rights.
Mvelaphanda Group is placed third in the TEC's ownership ranking, with 53% in black economic interest and voting rights. It is followed by another traditional BEE giant Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI).
The Top 10 ownership list is completed by Aveng with 23 points, Aspen Pharmacare (23), Spescom (23), Grand Parade Investments (22,8), Adcorp Holdings (22) and then Naspers (21,9).
