Temporary trading extended

THE Financial Services Board (FSB) has granted an extension to MTN Zakhele’s temporary trading of its stock on an over-thecounter trading platform for four months.

The exemption from acquiring a licence to operate a stock exchange was set to lapse at the end of June, after which the BEE special purpose vehicle (SPV) would move its stock to the JSE’s BEE board.

The temporary exemption from the statutory requirement to obtain a stock exchange operating licence, along with inherent exchange infrastructure, would now expire at the end of October, according to MTN Zakhele.

“Shareholders will be advised in due course of developments relating to the listing (application),” said Sindisiwe Mabaso-Koyana, who has been appointed as MTN Zakhele chairman. “In the interim, trading will continue on the trading platform we have provided.”

MTN Zakhele announced in March it was in talks with the JSE, with a view to list its stock alongside Sasol’s BEE shares listed on a specially created platform. The SPV owns about 4% of the issued shares in cellphone provider MTN Group, valued at more than R10-billion.

According to the Financial Markets Act of 2012, companies that facilitate the trading of their stock must either obtain a licence to operate a stock exchange, cease trading or obtain an exemption from the FSB.

Along with about 20 other companies valued at about R60-billion, including MultiChoice’s Phuthuma Nathi schemes, Vodacom’s Yebo Yethu and Sasol Inzalo, MTN Zakhele sold stakes in the underling companies to the black community. The companies obtained temporary exemptions from the FSB to facilitate trading in the past three years. Mabaso-Koyana is a chartered accountant and a director of Toyota SA, Adcorp Holdings and Altech, among others. — BDlive