(Reuters) - Media group Independent News & Media (LSE: INM.L - news) (INM) has agreed to sell its South African unit to a consortium of investors for 2 billion rand ($226 million), the Irish company said on Sunday.
INM said "detailed heads of terms" have been agreed on the sale of Independent News & Media South Africa, which publishes the Star, the Pretoria News and the Cape Times, to the Sekunjalo Independent Media Consortium.
The consortium is led by Sekunjalo Holdings, among the leading black investment groups in South Africa.
Black economic empowerment is the government's affirmative action program aimed at giving black South Africans a bigger stake in the economy two decades after the end of apartheid.
The Irish publisher has radically restructured in recent years, selling its flagship British title the Independent, as well as interests in India and closing money-losing newspapers in Ireland (OTC BB: IRLD - news) .
The sale will be subject a final agreement being signed by both parties and will require the approval of INM shareholders and the South African competition commission, INM said in a statement.
(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)
