By Our Reporter
Kenyan Investors are showing keen interest in participating in the MTN IPO following the opening of the offer on October 11 2021 and a series of investor roadshows that took place in Nairobi last week. The offer which closes on November 22 2021 is now open to Kenyans and East African investors.
With 4.4 billion shares on offer, the MTN IPO is the second largest offer in the region after Safaricom in Kenya and the first telecommunication company to be listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange.
Speaking on the sidelines of one of the investor meeting, Cynthia Mbaru, Dyer & Blair Investment Bank Director of Corporate Finance, said that it was very useful to have the MTN Management team visit Nairobi last week where they engaged market analysts and prospective investors on the IPO.
“We hosted a great session with them for our clients which was very informative. Our clients had a lot of questions regarding the business and future prospects. At the end of it, it was clear that MTN is a very profitable company with a strong balance sheet and good growth prospects. Our clients particularly felt that mobile money presented a lot of opportunities for MTN considering the impact MPESA had on Safaricom that they have witnessed,” said Cynthia.
She added that; “with all this information, our clients are now very keen to invest especially as they know that they will earn incentive shares of 5% on top of their application and that the allocation policy puts them behind Ugandans.”
“Now, we are very busy assisting them to open SCD accounts and showing them how to apply for shares online. Our advice at this stage for all investors is to open the SCD account first. As the offer comes to a close, it is important not to leave that process till the end.”
The roadshows were made possible after the Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMAK) had provided its ‘no objection’ for The MTN Uganda Initial Public Offering (IPO) to be marketed in Kenya, allowing the marketing of the shares to both Professional Investors and Retail Investors following the opening of the offer in Uganda on 11th October 2021.
The marketing in Kenya is facilitated by SBG Securities, and Dyer and Blair, both of whom are licensed market intermediaries in Kenya, working in collaboration with their respective affiliates in Uganda. SBG Securities Uganda Limited is the Transaction Advisor and Lead Sponsoring Broker for the MTN Uganda IPO and will be collaborating with SBG Securities Limited (Kenya) to market the IPO in Kenya. Dyer & Blair Uganda is a Lead Retail Broker.
The MTN Uganda IPO offers for sale 4.4 billion ordinary shares, accounting for a 20 percent stake of the company, at a price of UGX 200.00 per share. Each prospective shareholder must apply for at least 500 shares, which, if fully allocated, results in a minimum investment of UGX 100,000 per shareholder.
Kenyan investors will require a valid identification national ID or passport to open a Securities Central Depository (SCD) account at the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) to apply for the MTN Uganda IPO. All East Africans who apply for shares, will receive 5 bonus shares for every 100 shares they are allocated. The MTN Uganda IPO will close on Monday 22nd November 2021 at 4pm EAT.