Qualifying black investors would, from Monday, have the opportunity to buy shares from existing shareholders, as telecommunications group MTN opens up trade for its broad-based black economic-empowerment (BBBEE) scheme – MTN Zakhele.

Registration for existing and potential new traders to start buying and selling shares online opened on November 1, following the expiry of the three-year minimum investment period, MTN Zakhele chairperson Thulani Gcabashe said on Wednesday.

MTN Zakhele, which was established in 2010 as part of MTN’s ongoing efforts to further its BBBEE ambitions, would use an over-the-counter trading system, accessible through an online trading platform and dedicated call centre.

Speaking at the launch of the trading platform, in Rosebank, Gcabashe said the price for an ordinary share in the R13.8-billion scheme, which held a 4% stake in MTN, would be determined by the market of buyers and sellers and was dependent on trading and liquidity.

While a number of independent analysts have valued MTN Zakhele shares at between R120 and R143 apiece, this was “not necessarily” the price of trade, he noted.

Nor were the R8.5-billion net asset value (NAV), up from R3.4-billion at inception, or the R104.63 NAV a share, up from R75.45 in December 2011, indicators of the value at which the MTN Zakhele shares would trade.

The NAV growth was largely attributed to the growth in the MTN share price, which jumped 68% from R117 in August 2010, to R196 by September, and the increased dividends received from MTN, which grew from 50% in 2010, to 76% by 2012.

This performance had enabled the scheme to reduce its more expensive funding obligations, which included a donation from MTN, MTN vendor finance and funding from third-party lenders, more quickly than expected. The black public had only contributed about 20% of the total funding needed for the original MTN Zakhele transaction.

The improved financial position also allowed for the replacement of more expensive funding with cheaper funding.

Since 2010, over 120 000 black investors have become shareholders of MTN Zakhele, buying shares, with an underlying value a share of R42.09, at R20 a share apiece.

As of Tuesday, over 13 500 existing and new shareholders had opened online trading accounts, with over 6 000 registering on the website, nearly 2 200 through the call centre and over 4 000 during MTN’s investor education and registration seminars across the country.

“This number is expected to swell significantly in the next few days after the Johannesburg shareholder education seminar [to be held] at Nasrec [near Soweto] tomorrow [Thursday],” said platform project management company Tamela’s Sydney Mhlarhi.

The Johannesburg leg of a national road show followed several successful investor and trading education and registration seminars in four other provinces to create awareness of the new trading platform and teach shareholders how to invest.

However, owing to time constraints in launching the platform, MTN Zakhele had not implemented a broker model, which would enable the organisation to trade on behalf of the clients. This would be fully explored after trading had started, and would depend on demand, costs and benefits, Mhlarhi commented.

Both buyer and seller would be liable for transaction fees on the trading platform, which was limited to the higher of R60 or 0.75% of the transaction value, for the management, maintenance and support services related to the MTN Zakhele share trading platform.