Vodacom finally got listed on the JSE yesterday (Monday 18 May) after doubts about the listing as investors were made to wait for a high court ruling over the weekend to be sure that the listing would occur. The trade union, COSATU, were the ones who wanted to stop Vodacom from listing on the JSE as they felt that it was not right for British company Vodafone to increase its stake in Vodacom from 50% to 60% thus giving the the British company a controlling stake in a South African company. COSATU had a valid point but Judge John Murphey dismissed COSATU’s court application.

If COSATU had gotten its way and Vodacom did not list on the JSE yesterday, that would have been a big blow to the South Africa economy as foreign investors would have been reluctant to invest in South Africa. But now that Vodacom has listed, we will see a R22.5 billion injection of foreign currency into the country from this deal. This R22.5 billion is much welcome in the economy as we have a large current account deficit.

What was interesting to note on the JSE yesterday was the Telkom share price. The share price of Telkom almost halved to R60 a share, as the market cap of Vodacom was taken out of Telkom and distributed to Telkom shareholders (along with a special dividend). The Vodacom share closed the day yesterday at R58.80 after having hovered around the R60 mark during the day. It will be interesting to keep an eye on the Vodacom share over the next couple of weeks to see how it performs.

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