JOHANNESBURG, Oct 15 (Reuters) - South Africa's governmentis considering selling its $2.5 billion stake in the local unitof Vodafone Plc to raise funds for state power utilityEskom, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
The government has approached financial advisers about thepossible sale of its 13.9 percent stake in Vodacom Group, Bloomberg said, citing four people familiar with thematter.
The stake is likely to be sold to institutional investorsalthough a deal is not imminent, Bloomberg said, citing one ofthe sources.
The government's stake in Vodacom is worth around 28 billionrand ($2.5 billion), according to Reuters data.
Vodacom spokesman Richard Boorman said the company was "notaware of any developments along these lines".
Shares of Vodacom, the dominant mobile operator in SouthAfrica, were down 1.9 percent at 124.20 rand at 0953 GMT.
(1 US dollar = 11.0694 South African rand) (Reporting by David Dolan; Editing by Ed Stoddard and LouiseHeavens)