Vodacom Tanzania’s $213m IPO results due 7 August

According to the latest timetable on the website of Vodacom Tanzania, the extended $213 million initial public offer (IPO) of shares closed on 28 July. Shares are due to be allotted, the register delivered to the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) and the offer results announced on Monday, 7 August.

Refunds and CSD receipts will be printed on 14 August and the listing and trading of shares will be on 15 August. The offer had been extended previously, see our June story here , most recently from 10 July.

A total of 560m shares had been offered at TZS850 each, for an offer value of TZS476bn. It is the biggest IPO so far in 2017 on African capital markets.

The IPO follows the Electronic and Postal Communications Act of 2010 (EPOCA) which requires all telecom companies to list, and the June 2016 Finance Act requiring them to list at least 25% on the DSE to boost domestic ownership. According to news reports the law was changed in June (Finance Act 2017) to allow foreigners to participate.

According to a Business Report article, Vodacom spokesperson Byron Kennedy said in July that opening to international investors: “.. is a positive move for the more than 40,000 Tanzanians that have invested in the IPO as it is expected to improve liquidity of the Vodacom Tanzania shares once they are listed.”

Vivek Mathur, the chief operating officer for Vodacom’s international business, said in a prospectus in February that the capital raising and listing were in line with the government’s intention to strengthen the country’s telecommunications sector to play a key role as the engine of economic growth and socio-economic development: “This process also aims to widen financial inclusion among Tanzanians, and to economically empower the people of Tanzania.”

Reuters reports that two other major telecoms operators, Millicom’s subsidiary Tigo and the local business of India’s Bharti Airtel, have also submitted prospectuses to the regulator the Capital Markets Supervisory Authority CMSA and are awaiting approval for their IPOs.

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