Telecom giant MTN Uganda, a subsidiary of MTN South Africa, has announced that the company has decided to give Ugandans an opportunity to buy shares 20% of the company’s ordinary shares worth Shs4.4Bn following approvals by the Capital Markets Authority of Uganda (CMA) and the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE).
The announcement was made on Monday 11th October 2021 by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Wim Vanhellepute during a presser held at the MTN main offices in Kampala, and it marks the opening of the offer.
“With the opening of the IPO we are one step closer to our goal of broad ownership of our business across the Ugandan population,” said MTN Uganda Chief Executive Officer Wim Vanhelleputte.
“All Ugandans will have an opportunity to buy a stake in MTN Uganda. The company is offering to sell 20% of its shares in Uganda at Shs200 per share and the total of shares to be sold are worth Shs4.4Bn,” Vanhellepute told the media.
The offer aims to facilitate the broadest possible shareholder base in Uganda, with Ugandan Retail Investors making Applications for Offer Shares of an aggregate minimum value of UGX 5 million to be allocated the full number of Offer Shares for that minimum value applied for.
A unique digital channel will be available to retail investors for IPO subscription: the m-IPO portal is accessible via USSD and via the MyMTN App. Traditional payment channels will also be available across Uganda at Stanbic Bank, Absa Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank branches and authorized selling agents.
“Our m-IPO initiative is the country’s first paper-free IPO platform aimed at retail investors, in partnership with the USE, and will help position Uganda at the forefront of digitizing the capital markets for Africa,” Wim Vanhelleputte added.
Yolanda Cuba, MTN Group Vice President for Southern and East Africa, said the IPO would give Ugandans an opportunity to participate in the ownership of their country’s leading mobile operator and, in doing so, help deepen Uganda’s capital markets.
“Today’s IPO is very clearly aligned with our Ambition 2025 strategic intent of leading digital solutions for Africa’s Progress,” she said.
The IPO includes a broad share incentive scheme and Ugandan retail investors in particular using the m-IPO channel are eligible to receive 10 additional incentive shares for every 100 shares applied for and allocated in the IPO.
Following the successful completion of the offer, the company will list its entire ordinary share capital on the Main Investment Market Segment of the USE. This will meet the requirements of MTN Uganda’s license, which requires its listing by the end of June 2022.