"The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) wishes to clarify and place in context reports that it is intending to convert its bond investment in the power utility Eskom into equity," the board said in a statement.

The reports were based on an interview that PIC chairman Reuel Khoza had with television news channel eNCA, in which Khoza stated that the PIC had developed a discussion document on its investment in Eskom.

"In that regard, the PIC confirms that it has developed a discussion document which sets out a wide range of possible options. Whatever solution the PIC eventually supports, if any, will meet the risk and return expectations of our clients and be fully consistent with our fiduciary responsibilities." 

Therefore, the PIC considered any "misinterpretation of the aforementioned as unfortunate and regrettable", the board statement concluded.

eNCA reported on Thursday that the PIC had tabled a proposal to help bail out Eskom. Trade union federation Cosatu had previously mooted using R250 billion in PIC funds to pay some of the utility's burgeoning debt.

Khoza said the PIC had not received any formal communication from Cosatu, but he believed there was a way to help Eskom, eNCA reported.

The PIC, Africa's biggest fund manager by far, is wholly owned by the South African government, represented by the minister of finance. The PIC's clients are mostly public sector entities, including the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), Compensation Commissioner Fund (CC), Compensation Commissioner Pension Fund (CP), and Associated Institutions Pension Fund (AIPF).

African News Agency