By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Vodacom Group has agreed to a secondary listing on the A2X stock exchange. The listing will take place next Thursday, 26 October, with ordinary shares tradeable from that date.
The group will retain its primary listing on the JSE and its issued share capital will be unaffected by the additional listing on A2X.
“We are pleased that the secondary listing on A2X has been approved. As we grow and having recently accelerated our growth profile by completing the acquisition of a 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt, we are delighted to be able to give our investors an alternative venue to trade and trust they will find this beneficial,” said Vodacom Group CFO Raisibe Morathi in a statement issued on Wednesday.
A2X CEO Kevin Brady said that the company looked forward to demonstrating the benefits that a listing on A2X would bring to both Vodacom Group and its investors.
“Vodacom is one of Africa’s most recognised and respected brands and we are delighted to be welcoming them onto our platform next week.”
The purpose-led African connectivity, digital and financial services company, with mobile networks covering more than 500-million people, operates in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa, as well as in Kenya and Ethiopia through a 35% shareholding in Safaricom.
A2X is a licensed stock exchange authorised to provide a secondary trading venue for companies and is regulated by Financial Sector Conduct Authority and Prudential Authority, the South African Reserve Bank, in South Africa, in terms of the Financial Markets Act 19 of 2012.
Meanwhile the National Consumer Tribunal (NCT), which adjudicates disputes between consumers and credit providers, has imposed a R1 million fine against Vodacom after finding its conduct was “unconscionable” when it, among other things, imposed hefty cancellation penalties for fixed-term contracts.
The National Consumer Commission, whose mandate is compliance with the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), said on Wednesday it had received numerous complaints for two years until March 2022, with consumers alleging that Vodacom denied them the right to cancel their fixed-term contracts by imposing a cancellation penalty of 75%.
Moreover, Vodacom required payment of all outstanding fees and the cancellation penalty before contracts were terminated, it said in a statement.
The commission said its investigation revealed that Vodacom had engaged in prohibited conduct by contravening a section of the CPA that allows for cancellation penalties to be imposed, but only if this didn’t have the effect of negating the consumer’s right to cancel.