Identity of new owners of South African INM business revealed

The chairman of the South African media consortium buying the local business of Independent News & Media has revealed who the key members of his group are, after months of refusing to divulge their identity.

In February, Iqbal Survé and his Sekunjalo Group entered into a deal with Dublin-based INM to buy its South African media house for two billion rand (about €170 million), but kept his cards close to his chest on who his partners were.

Last month, the revelation that the Government Employees Pension Fund had taken a 25 per cent stake in Sekunjalo’s buyout sparked a row over media ownership and editorial independence.

Dr Survé, whose consortium will own the other 75 per cent of INMSA, continued to keep the identity of his group's major shareholders secret, but on Thursday, just days after INM shareholders approved the deal, he came clean. He told the Business Day newspaper that shareholders include the country's largest union federation, Cosatu, and two affiliates: the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union, and the Food & Allied Workers Union. A special purpose vehicle was also created to house a 10 per cent stake for INMSA employees.
BILL CORCORAN