Sasol in top black empowerment deal

South African petrochemical giant Sasol on Monday announced plans to sell 10 percent of its issued share capital, worth more than two billion US dollars (1.5 billion euros), in the country's biggest black empowerment deal.
The empowerment deal, which will be implemented in 2008 if approved by shareholders, will see almost 27,000 Sasol staff allocated shares. Three percent of Sasol Limited share capital will go to the black public and 1.5 percent to select Black Economic Empowerment groups. "A unique feature of this transaction is the broad black public share offer. We want as many black South Africans as feasibly possible, most of whom have never owned shares before, to become shareholders," said Sasol chief executive Pat Davies.
The empowerment deal would be the biggest in the country's history in terms of "the amount as an equity ownership transaction" and would be the most broad-based, Sasol spokesman Johann Van Rheede told.