BCR ready to receive applications for country’s first IPO

Despite Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) being the lead receiving bank for the BRALIRWA Initial Public Offer (IPO) slated for later this year, a top official has confirmed that Commercial Bank of Rwanda (BCR) will also receive applications. Sanjeev Anand, the Managing Director of BCR said, on Tuesday ,this week that as the receiving bank, BCR will also act as the channel through which the IPO will be transacted. “Applications will be presented to BCR which will reconcile them with the funds,” said Anand. According to BCR, the role they acquired through a successful bidding process was due to the bank official’s expertise in the same field. “We have the capability to do it given our experience in preparing IPOs in other countries like Uganda and else where and we are proud to be involved in the first IPO in the country,” said Anand. Recently government mentioned companies to act as advisors in preparation of the BRALIRWA IPO including a consortium of MBEA Kampala, MBEA Security Services, Kigali and RENAISSANCE Capital of Nairobi as the lead transaction advisor. Dyer and Blair Investment of Bank was also selected as the lead sponsoring broker for the IPO while African Alliance another Kenyan company was chosen as the co-sponsoring brokers chosen for the same transaction. According to officials managing and regulating the national bourse, the Rwanda Over-the-Counter Market is set to list BRALIRWA as the first IPO later this year. Government is preparing an agreement to sell 5 percent of its stake directly back to the Heineken Group and 25 percent to the public through the equity market. BRALIRWA is jointly owned by government (30 percent) and the Heineken Group (70 percent) which owns some of the world’s leading portfolios of beer brands. According to Rwanda’s Capital Markets Advisory Council (CMAC) the Rwanda bourse has mainly attracted treasury and corporate bonds. It was reported recently that it had recorded a total turnover of only Rwf 13, 952,300 (only about $25,367) from the cross-listing of Kenya Commercial Bank shares. Ends

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BCR ready to receive applications for country’s first IPO