By Our Reporter
MTN Uganda alongside senior broker representatives from SBG Securities and Crested capital have kickstarted a nationwide MTN IPO awareness tour aimed at creating awareness and providing vital information about the MTN offer of shares and the stock market to communities across Uganda. This is in a bid to equip the public with necessary information to enable them to participate in the on-going MTN IPO.
The MTN IPO nationwide awareness tour is part of MTN’s broader “Uganda is Home” campaign through which MTN is seeking to further deepen its roots across the country by offering Ugandans ownership in one of the country’s largest companies.
The initiative to take the IPO closer to the people follows MTN’s announcement of the intention to list 20% (4.5 billion shares) of its ordinary shares and the subsequent opening of the offer on Monday 11 October 2021, after approvals by the Capital Markets Authority of Uganda. The offer will close on Monday 22 November 2021.
MTN is offering shares at UGX 200 per share with a minimum order quantity of 500 shares which means Ugandans can become shareholders in MTN Uganda with an investment of as low as UGX 100,000. This affordable offer of shares by MTN coupled with the incentives is aimed at democratizing the capital market and making it as easy as possible to apply for shares through MTN MoMo.
While conducting the first townhall at the Source of the Nile Hotel on Tuesday, Wim Vanhelleputte the MTN CEO said that the on-going MTN IPO is aimed at giving all Ugandans an opportunity to become part owners of the country’s leading telecommunications and mobile money operator and, in doing so, help democratize and bolster Uganda’s capital market.
“The MTN IPO is a people’s IPO. It is mostly targeting Ugandan individual investors, giving every Ugandan a chance to own a stake in MTN Uganda for as low as UGX100,000. MTN has also made the process of application (for shares) easy and affordable through MTN MoMo,” Vanhelleputte said.
Vanhelleputte also noted that to further drive more participation by Ugandans, the IPO has special incentives for Ugandans who apply. “All Ugandan individuals applying for MTN Shares through MTN MoMo (via USSD or MyMTN app) will receive an incentive of 10 bonus shares for every 100 shares applied for. Individuals applying for shares using other methods like Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) portal or paper applications will also get an incentive of 5 bonus shares for every 100 shares they apply. In case of over subscription of MTN IPO, Ugandan individuals will be considered first.” He said.
MTN and the brokers will hold over 300 meetings across all the districts countrywide to sensitize the public about the opportunity to own shares in the company.