VODACOM IPO TAKES OFF TOMORROW

VODACOM Tanzania initial public offer (IPO), the biggest in history of Dar bourse, is staged to take off tomorrow after it was approved by the Capital Markets and Securities Authority last week.

CMSA Principal Public Relations Officer, Charles Shirima told the ‘Daily News’ yesterday all have been set for the launching of the IPO where the mobile phone company plans to raise 476bn/- ($213 million) in a share sale, the first of a series of initial public offerings by telecommunications companies on the domestic stock exchange this year.

Vodacom, the country’s largest operator plans to sell 560 million shares at 850/- each. 

Under the Finance Act of 2016, which amended the Electronic and Postal Communications Act of 2010, the government made it a legal requirement for the country’s telecoms operators to float 25 per cent of their shares on the DSE so as to boost local ownership of the mobile telephone companies.

The IPO will be restricted to Tanzanians only.

Vodacom is the country’s largest operator with 31 percent market share, followed by Millicom International Cellular SA’s Tigo, Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s domestic subsidiary and Halotel, a unit of Vietnam’s Viettel Group.

Companies registered in Tanzania after July 2016 are exempt from the listing requirement for at least two years. 

Stockbrokers are predicting the shares would be oversubscribed as the brand markets itself as investors are anxiously waiting for the opportunity to buy Vodacom shares, putting on hold investing in other companies.

Zan Securities Chief Executive Officer Raphael Masumbuko said would-be-investors were waiting for the IPO since the telecom Act was passed. “People of all walks of life are waiting for this IPO.

We have been in constant pressure on when Vodacom IPO come.

“Actually, you don’t even need a prospectus to sell Vodacom as social assumption is, it’s a well profitable firm,” Mr Masumbuko said. Meanwhile, Vodacom meet brokers to strategise in preparations for the upcoming Initial Purchasing Offers (IPO).

The one-day seminar meant to put in place strategies was in Dar es Salaam and attended by all licensed Vodacom Tanzania Plc brokers and the management team of the giant telecom company.

Vodacom Tanzania Plc Managing Director, Ian Ferrao said, “we are grateful for all your contribution since we started this process up to this moment whereas we have been granted the licence to go public by the Capital Markets and Securities Authorities, as we only have a few days to officially go live with our IPO, it is vital that we are meeting today to strategise on how we are going to go about this and achieve our intended goals.

” Vodacom Tanzania Plc is the first telecom company in Tanzania to comply with the Electronic and Postal Communications Act 2010 (EPOCA) as amended by the Finance Act 2016.

The Act requires all telecom companies to place 25 per cent of its shares on the DSE.

DailyNews