Treasury to name assets for Eskom bailout ‘shortly’

The National Treasury said it will provide details of non-core government assets sold to finance a R23 billion-rand rescue package for its power utility after the transactions are completed.
“The process is so advanced that we can comfortably say we are on course,” Lungisa Fuzile, director general of the Treasury, said Thursday in an interview in Cape Town at the World Economic Forum on Africa.

The government is seeking to sell assets to help plug a R225 billion funding shortfall at Eskom, with the first tranche due this month.

The Public Investment Corp., the state-owned pension fund manager, is considering increasing its stake in Vodacom Group Ltd. by buying the government’s shares in the company, people familiar with the plans said last month. The government has a 13.9% stake in the mobile-phone operator.

“There will probably be a time when, for us, holding the information doesn’t make sense because the amounts are big,” Fuzile said. “Whether we say it or not, it will become obvious.”

Eskom is struggling to meet electricity demand and has implemented regular blackouts this year, crimping manufacturing output and undermining growth.

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene submitted on Wednesday to parliament the Eskom Appropriation Bill that enables the government to allocate the R23 billion bailout to the utility.
Details of the assets sales will be announced shortly, he said on Thursday, when asked in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Anna Edwards about the disposals, including whether the government will sell its stake in Vodacom.

Information will be made public “at an opportune time,” Nene said. “We will do that before the end of this month.” – Bloomberg