Jorge Mendes, head of Cell C, acquired shares in the company on the market worth 20.8 million rand over four days. According to a Tuesday report from Sens, Mendes made two purchases on the open market.
The first transaction, which took place on September 17, involved the purchase of 52,187 ordinary shares at a price of 23 rand per share, totaling a transaction value of 1.2 million rand. The second purchase, made on September 21, included another 740,000 shares at a price of 26.50 rand per unit, with a total cost reaching 19.6 million rand. Both purchases were direct beneficial acquisitions and received approval for execution. In total, these acquisitions amounted to 792,187 shares, representing approximately 0.23% of the company.
Mendes paid 15% more for the second and larger batch than four days earlier. A director buying shares at an increasing price, rather than expecting a decline, is a stronger indicator than just the rand value.
The price of 26.50 rand he paid on Monday matches the price at which Cell C was listed on the JSE on November 27 of last year. The shares were valued at 26.50 rand in the offering that raised 2.7 billion rand through the sale of 102 million shares by The Prepaid Company, a subsidiary of Blu Label Unlimited Group. This implied a market capitalization of about 9 billion rand with 340 million shares outstanding. The offering was a complete secondary sale, and Cell C itself did not raise new capital.
Mendes joined Cell C as CEO in 2023, moving from Vodacom, where he managed consumer business. He took over the operator, which was supported by consistent recapitalizations—a restructuring in 2017 and a more comprehensive restructuring in 2022 with the support of Blue Label Telecoms, now Blu Label.
Low-Asset Model
What followed was not a rescue operation, but a revival. Cell C transitioned to a low-asset model, effectively handing over management of its radio access network to roaming partners MTN and Vodacom. This allowed for reduced capital expenditure while ensuring customers had access to the strongest signal in the area. The company expanded its wholesale services and mobile virtual network operator business, where its collaboration with Capitec is most significant, and returned to profitability. Furthermore, in August 2024, the brand was relaunched with a new logo, design, and slogan.
The market reacted to this through Blue Label. Icasa paved the way for Blue Label to take control of Cell C in January of last year. In August 2025, Blue Label reversed a multi-billion write-down it had previously recognized regarding its stake—this was an unusually direct statement of confidence in the operator's recovery. Blue Label's own share price rose by 172% in the first eight months of that year as investors responded positively to the turnaround process.
Cell C is the fourth-largest mobile operator in South Africa by subscriber count, trailing Vodacom, MTN, and Telkom. At the listing, the company projected that it intended to return 30–50% of free cash flow to shareholders as dividends once conditions allowed.
