Trading has been fast and furious in the shares of Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange PLC, which self-listed at 9am on 12 July. The first day of trading saw the shares listed at TZS 500 each and soaring as high as TZS 1,000 after hitting TZS 800 in the first 20 minutes. They closed at TZS 935. Turnover was 201 deals out of all the 248 deals for the day, according to the DSE daily report and TZS 794.8 million ($363,750) worth of shares were traded (out of TZS 817.9m traded for all counters).
DSE continued scorching up its own trading boards today (13 July), climbing further to TZS 1,100 and then ending at TZS 1,000 in 289 deals (out of 356 total) for a total value traded of TZS 1.1 billion (out of daily traded value of TZS 1.25bn).
Huge interest had already been seen in the initial public offer (IPO) of shares which ran from 16 May and closed on 3 June. Total bids were TZS 35.8 billion ($16.4 million), or 4.8 times the offered amount of TZS 7.5bn ($3.4m). This follows its demutualization in 2015. The Capital Markets and Securities Authority (CMSA) approved that DSE could augment its “green shoe” option from 10% (i.e. TZS 750m) to 35% or TZS 2.6m). That means the DSE raised TZS 10.1m in total.
IPO applications for up to 10,000 shares (TZS 5m) got their application in full, the full 3% allocation was given to staff, and those who applied for more than 10,000 shares received shares pro rata and a refund.
Government is planning pressure to encourage more listings. Speaking at yesterday’s launch, Finance and Planning Minister Philip Mpango said Government would start with encouragement for privatized companies to list, but it could consider a new law and regulations: “If the mutual talks fail, then the Government will push them to offload some of their shares at the DSE” (as reported in Daily News).
Listed companies that were previous privatizations such as Tanzania Breweries, Tanzania Cigarette Company, National Microfinance Bank, CRDB Bank, Simba Cement, Twiga Cement and TOL Gases are among Tanzania’s 15 largest taxpayers and rated as top-quality employers. Mpango said listing would encourage transparency and good corporate governance, making tax administration easier while enabling citizens to participate in economic activities.
DSE CEO Moremi Marwa said more than 400 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) had been privatised in the last 20 years, but only 7 listed on the bourse: “It is advisable that future privatizations are conducted through the capital market.”
Nasama Massinda, CEO of CMSA, said they were very pleased by Government’s move to force telecom companies to list 25% of shares at the DSE. “We believe this is the right thing as we want Tanzanians to own shares of these companies… the trend is that some of the firms are allocating shares to one or two ‘mwananchi’. We want them to sell their shares to the public. And the good thing is that these shares are not given for free since local investors would buy them.” She added that the Mining Act also requires that mining firms with special mining licences should sell part of their shares to citizens through DSE.
Investors who want to buy or sell shares can contact the DSE stockbrokers (licensed dealing members) or trade on the DSE’s mobile phone trading platform by dialling *150*36# and selecting “DSE Shares” from the list.
