South Africa: SABMiller to sell 25% of its home business

SABMiller Plc may sell as much as 25 percent of its South African business to black investors later this year, Business Times said, citing Chief Executive Officer Graham Mackay.

A deal will likely be "constructed" only after South Africa has concluded an "empowerment charter" for the liquor industry later this year, the Johannesburg-based newspaper said, citing an interview with Mackay. SABMiller's South African business probably had an "imputed" market value of 65 billion rand (US$9.4 billion), the newspaper said.

SABMiller is unlikely to fund such a deal itself because it believes "giving away value is not what is required, called for, or justified," the newspaper quoted Mackay as saying.

South African businesses in industries from mining to banking have signed so-called empowerment charters that commit them to selling stakes in businesses to blacks to make up for their exclusion during apartheid, which ended in 1994.