Transaction team selected for Rwanda’s first IPO

A consortium made of MBEA Kampala, MBEA Security Service, Kigali and RENAISSANCE Capital of Nairobi has been chosen as the lead transaction advisor for the BRALIRWA Initial Public Offering (IPO), set to be launched later this year. Vincent Munyeshaka, the Chairperson of Rwanda’s Capital Market Privatization Committee said last week that Dyer and Blair Investment of Bank, had been selected as the lead sponsoring broker for the IPO while African Alliance also of Kenya was chosen as the co-sponsoring brokers chosen for the same transaction. Munyeshaka said that Kenya Commercial Bank was chosen as the lead receiving bank while Commercial bank of Rwanda and Banque de Kigali would follow as receiving banks as well. According to officials the national bourse, the Rwanda Over-the-Counter Market is set to list BRALIRWA as the first IPO later this year. Munyeshaka said that 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. The transaction would make BRALIRWA the first domestic company to list on Rwanda’s capital market since it started trading on the 31st January 2008. ”We are consulting with the lead transaction adviser to have an agreement between government and Heineken that will allow us (government) to sell the 5 percent directly back to them,” Munyeshaka said. Munyeshaka said the issuing of the BRALIRWA IPO is happening within the course of this year. He added that government is awaiting the advise of lead transaction adviser on the exact date. ”There are two schools of thought that will depend on the kind of investors (foreign, regional or domestic) we shall attract. We could have it before the presidential elections in August or after the elections,” he said. Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, John Rwangombwa said last month that the technical work on the BRALIRWA IPO was under way and that the capital markets privatization committee had already rolled out a transaction team to oversee the process. The team comprises of a lead transaction adviser, sponsoring and co-sponsoring brokers, the receiving banks, the legal adviser, a public relations firm and the reporting account. Munyeshaka said that another consortium made of MMC advocates and K-Solution of Rwanda had been selected as legal advisory team while Great Relations (GR8) was selected as the PR firm. One of the ultimate goals of having the BRALIRWA transaction is to strengthen the capital markets by having an active equity market that can support the country’s development agenda. ”We only have a young but an active debt market. Our financial sector is dominated by commercial banks with resources that make it difficult to finance our agenda,” Munyeshaka said. According to Rwanda’s Capital Markets Advisory Council (CMAC) the Rwanda bourse has mainly attracted treasury and corporate bonds has up to date recorded a total turnover of only Rwf 13, 952,300 (only about $25,367) from the cross-listing of Kenya Commercial Bank shares. Ends