Safaricom, described as the most profitable Telecom company in East Africa has launched its Initial Public Offer (IPO) in Rwanda paving way for Rwandan investors to have a stake in the company. This comes shortly after the Government of Kenya announced is unloading 25 per cent of its stake in the company, hoping to raise Ksh50 billion ($735 million) by selling 10 billion shares at Kshs5.00 each. Of the issued shares, 65 per cent are open to East African citizens while the remaining 35 percent will be sold to institutional foreign investors. The Rwandan investors will be treated like other East African investors, where they will be allowed to purchase a share at Ksh 5 (Frw 43). Simon Karenzi, chief executive officer of Dyer and Blair Rwanda, a subsidiary of Dyer and Blair Investment Bank, one of the IPO brokers said that, ‘this is one of the first opportunities for the East African integration’Mohammed A. Hassan, joint managing director of Dyer and Blair Investment Bank said prices for international investors will be developed by book building but won’t go below Ksh5. He said should East Africans over subscribe by 200 per cent, the domestic pool will be increased by 15 per cent of the share offer by decreasing the international pool. Ends
