A PLANNED sale of shares in South African wireless operator Vodacom Group by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to black investors has been abandoned, according to two people familiar with the situation.The PIC has a stake in the company of about 15%.The proposed sale by Africa’s biggest money manager, which oversees government workers’ pensions, to a consortium including former Vodacom executive Romeo Kumalo, would have boosted the blackshareholding in the company, a unit of Vodafone Group, said the sources, who asked not to be identified as the negotiations were private. Vodacom would continue to seek potential black shareholders, one said.A rise in Vodacom’s black shareholding would improve its chances of winning South African high-speed internet spectrum in a proposed auction the Independent Communications Association of SA (Icasa), the industry’s regulator, has said may raise $1bn early next year. Companies need 30% black ownership to place a bid, according to rules publis...
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