Asset management group Allan Gray is to sell a 25 percent stake of its local business to black economic empowerment shareholders, it announced on Tuesday.

The broad based empowerment trust will be made up of a group of black entrepreneurs, with the aim of fostering job creation through the promotion of black entrepreneurship, Allan Gray said.

In terms of the deal, Allan Gray, the founder of the group, will sell 15 percent of his shares in the company’s SA business to the empowerment trust. He will also sell 15 percent of his shares in the company’s Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland businesses to entrepreneurs in those countries. Proceeds will go to a public benefit organisation.

Black staff will hold a further 10 percent of the group, bringing the effective empowerment shareholding to 25 percent.

Allan Gray is the largest privately-owned investment company in the country, and oversees R105-billion worth of funds, Business Day reports.

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