YeboYethu listing on JSE BEE segment provides investors with enhanced liquidity

Vodacom’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) scheme, YeboYethu, listed its YeboYethu Ordinary Shares on the JSE BEE segment today, enabling YeboYethu shareholders to buy and sell YeboYethu shares in a regulated environment on the JSE.

The latest move follows a directive issued in July 2014 by the Financial Services Board (FSB) requiring companies that trade its BEE shares via Over-The-Counter (OTC) trading platforms to list them instead on a licensed stock exchange.

Commenting on the listing, Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub, said:
“We are pleased with what YeboYethu has achieved in terms of true broad-based empowerment in South Africa. Its transition to the JSE, one of the world’s most highly regarded stock exchanges, is a significant milestone for a large group of shareholders who can now trade their ordinary shares on the JSE BEE segment. Regulatory certainty aside, one of the major advantages of this move is an anticipated increase in liquidity, which can only be positive for buyers and sellers alike. Being listed on the JSE also means that YeboYethu shareholders will have wider and easier access to professional broking services offered by JSE Members.”

Zarina Bassa, Chairman of YeboYethu said:
“These are exciting times for the YeboYethu BEE Scheme as we’re increasing the protection of YeboYethu investors, ensuring that they continue to maximise value from their shares, using the JSE BEE Segment.”

Other major advantages that YeboYethu shareholders are expected to enjoy as part of the JSE’s BEE segment include: 

• Easier price discovery as JSE prices are published in most major print and electronic financial publications;
• Increased investor protection as a result of:
  • the JSE being a regulated market;
  • the segregation of duties between order taking, matching, settlement and custody of securities and cash;
  • monitoring of insider trading and price manipulation; and
  • monitoring of false and misleading reporting.

Established in 2008, YeboYethu was designed with the express intention of providing true grassroots empowerment. Vodacom issued 14.4 million YeboYethu Ordinary Shares at R25 each and as a result of the public offer, approximately 102 000 qualifying black investors bought a stake in Vodacom SA. At the time of implementation of the Vodacom SA BEE Transaction, valued at R7.5 billion, it was one of the largest empowerment schemes in the telecommunications industry, resulting in YeboYethu owning up to 3.44% of Vodacom SA.

To date, 14,395,300 YeboYethu shares are owned by about 87 534 black investors. Between February 2014 and July 2016, these shares changed hands on the YeboYethu OTC trading platform. The closing pricing on the OTC trading platform on Friday, 15 July 2016 was R53.01 per share.

Investors will be able to trade their shares by 11 August 2016.

For more information and enquiries, visit https://www.yeboyethu.co.za/ or www.yeboyethushares.co.za/ or contact our Shareholder Call Centre on 010 285 0090 (standard call rates apply) or 082 241 0001 (Toll-free from your Vodacom cellphone) during trading hours.