By Marius Bosch and Gugulakhe Lourie JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Vodafone has offered to buy a further 12.5 percent stake in mobile operator Vodacom for 18.75 billion rand from South Africa's Telkom, while Mvelaphanda Group may lead a bid for Telkom without its Vodacom stake. 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. Telkom shares closed 8.4 percent higher at 148.49 rand in volume 5.4 times the 30-day daily average. The transactions around Telkom signals further consolidation in the South African telecoms sector after sub-Saharan Africa's biggest mobile phone operator MTN said last week it was in talks with India's Reliance Communications over a transaction that could create a $66 billion emerging markets telecoms group. South African newspaper reports said the bid by a consortium led by Mvelaphanda Group -- headed by prominent black businessman Tokyo Sexwale who is one of South Africa's richest men -- may be worth up to 90 billion rand. Vodafone said its bid was conditional on Telkom unbundling or spinning off its remaining 37.5 percent stake in Vodacom to its existing shareholders. Vodacom is jointly owned by Vodafone and Telkom, Africa's biggest fixed-line telephone company. "We can confirm that we're in discussions with Telkom to buy an additional stake in Vodacom. However there are no assurances that such discussions will lead to a transaction being concluded," a Vodafone spokesman said. The South African government owns 38 percent of Telkom, state pension administrator Public Investment Corporation (PIC) 15 percent and black investment group the Elephant Consortium another 6 percent. A Vodacom source said Vodafone wanted to obtain a controlling stake in Vodacom without having to dilute its equity stake by selling off a part of the South African mobile phone group to black investors under the country's black economic empowerment (BEE) programme. "They (Vodafone) are smart. They are doing enough not to fall into a trap of buying the whole of Vodacom and later diluting their equity stake to a black economic empowerment (BEE) partner," the source said. Under a charter agreed by the industry, technology and telecoms companies in South Africa are bound to sell a 30 percent stake to black investors as part of the government's BEE policy -- aimed at giving blacks a bigger slice of the economy 14 years after the end of apartheid. Vodacom said in April it expected to announce the terms of its BEE transaction by the end of June. CONSORTIUM MULLS BID 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 a Vodacom stake sale. Telkom called off previous negotiations last November. Telkom said Mvelaphanda's holding company, Mvelaphanda Holdings, New York-listed hedge fund Och-Ziff and other strategic investors said in a letter of intent that a consortium was considering making a bid for Telkom, 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. Mvelaphanda Holdings said that the consortium is black-owned and controlled and that the investor group's long-term vision is to create a South African black-owned "telecommunications pan- African champion". Analysts said Telkom was worth much more than the 90 billion rand mentioned in local newspaper reports. "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 billion rand. Shares in Mvelaphanda Group closed 1.35 percent firmer at 7.50 rand. Telkom said discussions with Vodafone began on May 14 and were separate from the interest expressed by the consortium. | 
