PRETORIA Communications group MTN says its Zakhele Offer to the Black public to subscribe for approximately R1.6 billion worth of shares was oversubscribed more than 1.7 times.

The offer raised approximately R2.8 billion from more than 124,000 applicants from across South Africa. In an online statement, MTN says the majority of the applications were received in the last few days and the smooth running of the process bears testament to the South African Post Office collection process.

More than 95% of applications were received from individuals rather than groups of institutions. The goal of MTN was to create a truly broad-based empowerment transaction that would allow ordinary qualifying South Africans to become shareholders in MTN (through MTN Zakhele),” said MTN Group President and CEO, Phuthuma Nhleko.

"The success of the MTN Zakhele Offer has been overwhelming and represents the first step by qualifying South Africans towards building their future with MTN Zakhele Shares,” he said.

Since the closing of the offer MTN has begun a process of reconciliation to ensure that due process is observed during the finalisation of all applications.

MTN says where the full application cannot be met, the applicant will receive a refund of the relevant amount by electronic funds transfer back into the applicant’s specified transactional bank account with interest calculated from the closing date of 14 October 2010, as soon as practicable after finalisation of the allocation process.

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