By Marius Bosch JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Telkom has had an offer from a Vodafone unit for its half of mobile operator Vodacom, while Mvelaphanda may lead a bid for the whole group minus the Vodacom stake, Telkom said on Monday. Shares in Telkom jumped over 15 percent to 158 rand, the highest level in six months and valuing the company at 82.28 billion rand. By 0836 GMT, the shares were up 9.85 percent at 150.50 rand. This is the second time in less than a year that Telkom and Vodafone -- the world's largest mobile phone company by revenue -- have been in talks about the sale of the South African group's Vodacom stake. Telkom called off previous negotiations in November last year. Telkom said in a statement that Mvelaphanda Group, New York-listed private equity firm Och-Ziff and other strategic investors said in a letter that a consortium was considering making a bid for the Telkom group's entire issued share capital, but without the Vodacom stake. "The letter makes it clear that the offer will only be made if a number of pre-conditions are met, including, inter alia, confirmation by the Telkom Board that it will unbundle Telkom's entire 50 percent stake in Vodacom as part of the offer," Telkom said. TELKOM WORTH MORE South African media reports put the value of a possible Mvelaphanda bid at 90 billion rand, but analysts said Telkom was worth much more than that figure. "I think this looks rather opportunistic if the numbers in the press are accurate, because I think the value of Telkom is much higher than what the implied price of valuation is of the fixed-line business," said Rhys Summerton, a telecoms analyst at Citigroup in London. "I wouldn't be surprised if shareholders would think that a more attractive offer of something close to 180-185 rand a share would be more in line with their thinking, but I think what this does do is to put pressure on management, and that's a good thing (because) there are people who want to buy Telkom at a higher level and restructure it, quite clearly." Summerton said Citigroup valued Telkom's Vodacom stake at 135 million rand. Mvelaphanda Group is headed by prominent black businessman Tokyo Sexwale, one of South Africa's richest men and a close ally of African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma. Shares in Mvelaphanda rose 1.35 percent to 7.50 rand. Telkom said discussions with Vodafone began on May 14 and were separate from the interest expressed by the consortium. Telkom owns 50 percent of Vodacom, South Africa's leading cellphone group, and Vodafone the other half. Telkom called off talks in November last year to sell its Vodacom stake to Vodafone after failing to reach agreement on the sale of its fixed-line business to sub-Saharan Africa's biggest mobile phone operator, MTN. MTN is currently in talks with India's Reliance Communications that could create a $66 billion emerging markets telecoms group. | 
