“As you know, we’ve had our wings clipped, because of COVID and supply chain delays. We are a frustrated entity because we need aeroplanes and we need them like now,” Clark said on the sidelines of the delivery of the airline’s first A350-900 aircraft in Dubai, as reported by Zawya.

“Had the 777 9X been delivered to us, we would have 85 [new aircraft] by now. But with the A350 delivery, we are not trying to activate our network and grow it considerably more than what it is today,” he said.

In light of Emirates’ current acceleration of its growth strategy, Clark rejected plans for a sukuk or bond to finance the airline’s expansion, stating that it currently has “plenty of money.”

The aviation industry veteran also declined to comment on any plans for an initial public offering (IPO), a business strategy that rival Etihad Airways is reportedly considering.

The president of Emirates, who has criticised Boeing’s delays and a strike earlier 2024, stated that the airline’s growth strategy depends on the 64 A350s that are still in order.

Despite the setbacks, the flagship Gulf carrier has no immediate plans to reconsider its 777-9X order, opting instead to monitor Boeing’s manufacturing progress.

Additionally, Clark rejected plans to review the 777x orders with Boeing, stating, “We have to wait and hope they can resolve their current predicament. After the strike ends and the USD 21 billion that was recently invested in the company, I’m hoping that they will use the upcoming months to decide what to do. We are closely monitoring that.”

Newly-appointed Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg announced in October 2024 that the first 777-9 deliveries are now expected in 2026 due to development challenges, the flight-test pause, and the workers’ strike-related work stoppage.

However, things have been running smooth, when it comes to inducting new Airbus jets. Emirates has already received its first Airbus A350, registered as A6-EXA, which also marked the airline’s first new aircraft type addition since 2008, with 64 more A350s slated for future delivery.

The A350 will enter commercial service in January 2025, starting with flights to Edinburgh. The aircraft’s network will expand to include eight more destinations across Europe, the Middle East, and West Asia.

Configured in a three-class cabin, Emirates’ Airbus A350-900 will accommodate 312 passengers, apart from offering 32 flatbed business-class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, 21 premium economy seats, and 259 economy seats.

Emirates has ordered 65 A350-900 aircraft and plans to receive 10 of them by March 2025, underscoring its commitment to fleet enhancement and operational growth.

The post Emirates boss hints at increasing aircraft order book amid Boeing delays appeared first on International Finance.

The company turned down a possible deal due in part to investor and antitrust concerns. The company would concentrate on achieving its next goals, according to co-founder Assaf Rappaport: an IPO and USD 1 billion in recurring revenue annually. The business had its sights set on both targets long before rumours of talks with Google circulated.

The start-up’s USD 12 billion valuation from its most recent funding round would have almost doubled as a result of the deal. Established in 2020, Wiz has experienced significant growth under Assaf Rappaport, who had been aiming for an IPO as late as May. The company’s annual recurring revenue reached USD 100 million, and last year it hit USD 350 million, after 18 months.

The development has also come as a blow to Google parent Alphabet, which is trying to catch up with Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) in an intensely competitive cloud services market. Experts believe that since Wiz provides security scans for data stored with major cloud providers like AWS and Azure, could have been an attractive target and placed Google in a better position to compete with rivals. Wiz products mostly include cybersecurity-related solutions like threat prevention, active detection, and response.

Amazon and Microsoft, the industry leaders, have upped their game against Alphabet in the cloud space. After years of significant investment, the cloud unit turned a profit in 2023.

Thomas Kurian, the CEO of Google Cloud, faces pressure to keep growing the company in order to win business during the AI boom, despite steady growth in recent years.

This year has seen a dearth of technology exits as a result of start-ups holding off on going public until more markets are ready and a difficult regulatory landscape that hinders acquisitions.

Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia, and other venture backers who have raised multibillion-dollar funds in recent years will be disappointed by the transaction’s collapse.

According to Brendan Burke, a senior analyst at PitchBook, funds with assets valued in the billions must make exits totalling more than USD 10 billion to produce substantial returns for their limited partners. However, such events are not common.

AWS currently holds the top spot in cloud computing, with a 31% share of the global market as of the first quarter of 2024. Microsoft follows closely behind with a 25% share, while Google Cloud holds an 11% share, despite being profitable in Q1 2024, as per industry reports.

Considering Google’s mishap with the Australian pension fund UniSuper’s cloud subscription deletion, impacting over 600,000 members and resulting in them being unable to access their accounts for a week, there was pressure for improved internal security measures.

Kashyap Kompella, industry analyst and CEO of RPA2AI Research, told Techcircle that the Wiz acquisition would have enhanced Google’s security capabilities significantly and suggests that incidents like this could have been prevented in the future.

“Founded in 2020 by Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica, and Roy Reznik, the start-up consists of former leaders from Microsoft’s Cloud Security Group, Wiz offers a software platform that helps companies detect vulnerabilities and malicious activity in their cloud set-up across network, identity, compute, application and secrets. It presents all the information in one place at any scale to deliver quicker insights and informed decision-making. The platform supports AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and Kubernetes APIs,” Techcircle described the Wiz in the mentioned words.

Although Google’s deal with American cybersecurity firm Mandiant, concluded in 2022, boosted the tech giant’s credibility in the data security space, with the tech giant recently showcasing how its Gemini AI model could be used to help clients analyse threats and address potential vulnerabilities, it could have used Wiz to round out its security offerings, believe industry analysts.

According to Gartner VP and analyst Charlie Winkless, Google’s competitors have already made bigger investments in various areas of enterprise security.

“The acquisition would position Google to emulate some of Microsoft’s model. Microsoft alone claims to have over 30 billion in security revenues and is a major player in the CSPM market. Google has mainly focused on security within their GCP cloud, even though this year they have expanded coverage to AWS,” he said further.

“Wiz itself is a strong brand with a leading CSPM, surpassing Cisco in cloud security and rivalling Microsoft. AWS continues to focus on security tools within their platform, rather than addressing the broader multi-cloud strategy that many enterprises adopt. The space is further crowded with vendors like Fortinet, Crowdstrike and SentinelOne (acquired by PingSafe), vulnerability management vendors including Tenable, Rapid7, and Qualys, and specialised companies like Orca Security,” Techcircle noted further.

Analyst Brad Zelnick from Deutsche Bank believes that acquiring Wiz would have demonstrated Google Cloud Platform’s commitment to multi-cloud and cybersecurity, potentially leading to increased market share.

The post Setback for Google as Wiz prefers IPO over USD 23 billion acquisition deal appeared first on International Finance.

The Financial Times reports that the banking app is preparing to sell USD 500 million worth of shares, allowing current owners—including staff members—to realise a portion of their gains at an estimated valuation of more than USD 40 billion.

Revolut would be by far the most valuable private company in Europe with that price tag, though the exact amount and valuation are still up in the air.

According to Sky News, Storonsky intends to profit in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, and other board members may follow suit.

The decision of a CEO and board members to sell down their stakes can be contentious, and this secondary sale will be closely watched as Revolut has emerged as the fintech industry’s crown jewel in the United Kingdom.

The fact that only current Revolut employees are eligible for the round and that former employees are not allowed to sell down their stakes is another contentious aspect. Revolut recently disclosed that it had turned a profit, bringing in 438 million pound (USD 553 million) and doubling its revenue to 1.8 billion pound (USD 2.27 billion).

A 46% increase in customers, bringing the company’s total to 38 million customers across the 38 countries it currently operates in, was cited by Storonsky as the reason for the company’s “exceptional financial performance.”

The fintech giant has also hit headlines in July due to other reasons. However, before discussing those developments, let’s have a quick brief about Nik Storonsky.

Who Is Nik Storonsky?

Nik Storonsky was born in Russia in 1984. He completed his Master of Science in General and Applied Physics at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Storonsky was able to think analytically and have a thorough understanding of complex systems, because of his scientific training, which has helped him throughout his career.

Later on, Storonsky graduated from Moscow’s New Economic School with a Master of Applied Economics and Finance. The combination of his scientific and economic education prepared him for his success as a financial industry leader and entrepreneur in the future.

Nik Storonsky started his financial career as a trader at Lehman Brothers following his graduation. Later, he traded a variety of options, swaps, and foreign exchange instruments while employed at Credit Suisse.

Due to his trading background, Storonsky possessed a thorough understanding of global finance and the difficulties faced by individuals and companies requiring cross-border money transfers.

Storonsky envisions a world where financial services are available to everyone and money is not restricted by national boundaries through Revolut. His goal is to give customers and companies an easier way to transact without having to deal with cumbersome and complex traditional banking systems.

It’s possible that Storonsky’s love of travel and adventure sports had an impact on Revolut’s offerings. Along with access to airport lounges and travel insurance, the company also provides a budgeting tool to help customers save money for their next trip.

Additionally, Storonsky is dedicated to leveraging technology to improve the efficiency and accessibility of financial services, in addition to using state-of-the-art technology to give customers real-time transaction tracking and analytics.

Revolut’s Impact

The financial sector has been greatly impacted by Revolut. The company’s cutting-edge goods and services have put conventional banking systems under pressure and made them adjust to the shifting needs of customers. Due to Revolut’s success, other fintech businesses have been motivated to enter the market, increasing competition and stimulating creativity.

In the financial sector, Revolut’s success has not gone overlooked. Nik Storonsky is a well-known expert in his field who has won various honours and recognitions for his work with Revolut. He is number 906 on Forbes’ list of Billionaires for 2023, having a net worth of USD 3.03 billion as of May 2023. Forbes lists him on one of their prestigious lists of ‘who is who.’

In the financial sector, Revolut’s success has not gone overlooked. Revolut has won multiple accolades, including the title of overall winner of the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 award, in addition to being named the largest fintech company in the UK.

The innovative services and products offered by Revolut, like currency exchange, international money transfers, and surcharge-free ATM withdrawals, are partly responsible for its success.

Revolut has become a well-liked option for travellers and those requiring international money transfers thanks to these features.

In addition, Revolut provides investment choices, budgeting tools, and other financial services aimed at assisting consumers in improving their money management.

First Profit, IPO Talks And Many More

Revolut has finally registered a profit, as its revenues in 2023 almost doubled to 1.8 billion pound (USD 2.27 billion), helping it turn a pretax profit of 438 million pound (USD 553 million). This will provide relief to the fintech’s top-tier investors, including Index Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Balderton Capital, who have collectively poured over USD 2 billion into the company since 2015.

Revolut’s surge in profits was driven by a 46% jump in customers; 12 million new customers were added, bringing the total to 38 million across the now 38 countries in which Revolut operates. The feat powered a 59% increase in card and interchange fees (to 486 million pound) and a 46% rise in FX and the use of Revolut’s wealth platform, which includes crypto trading, to 395 million pound.

Revolut has also been working on securing a British banking license since 2021, and has repeatedly claimed that it would become an official bank “any day now.” The license is needed for the fintech venture to harness without its UK customer deposits to offer complex lending products, apart from enjoying the benefits of having the same customer deposit protections as official banks.

Revolut last completed a funding round in 2021, when SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Tiger Global led an USD 800 million Series E funding round at a valuation of USD 33 billion. Revolut will “keep an open mind” on a potential listing venue as its latest financial results hinted at plans for a much-anticipated IPO. While Martin Gilbert, a veteran fund manager who joined the firm’s board in 2020, added that the venture was at least a year away from a stock market listing, the fintech company’s share sell will help it to rival the market capitalisations of FTSE 100 lenders Lloyds and Barclays.

Gilbert’s latest comments differ from those of Storonsky, who said in 2023 that he did not “see the point” of listing in London due to the United Kingdom’s regulatory environment. Storonsky added that he would likely choose New York’s Nasdaq exchange in the event of an IPO. As per the reports, Revolut’s top brass seems frustrated due to its more than three-year struggle with regulators (mainly Financial Conduct Authority) to secure the UK banking licence.

However, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has now proposed making it easier for firms to use dual-class share structures, letting founders retain control despite selling down much of their stakes in an IPO. Talking about the IPO, Chief Financial Officer Victor Stinga earlier said that Revolut had “set solid foundations” that, in the long term, would “bring our financial processes in line with the standards expected from publicly listed companies”.

The post Business Leader of the Week: Nik Storonsky-led Revolut eyes breakthrough 2024 appeared first on International Finance.

For a firm to be incorporated into the index, it must be ranked within the top 50 in terms of market capitalisation and possess a minimum annual traded value ratio (ATVR) of 5%. This ensures that the index fairly represents the biggest players in the market.

The TASI50 Index offers real-time insights into market performance, making it a useful tool for institutional and individual investors alike. It can also be applied to the improvement of risk management techniques and the development of financial products.

“The introduction of the TASI50 Index is a significant achievement for the Saudi capital market, providing investors with a comprehensive overview of the performance of the top 50 companies listed on the Saudi Exchange,” stated Mohammed Al Rumaih, CEO of the Saudi Exchange, in response to the launch.

Investors can track and benchmark performance based on particular criteria by using this index, which provides a benchmark for investment products.

This index facilitates access to a wide array of investment options in our dynamic and expanding capital market for both domestic and foreign investors, thereby supporting the ongoing development and expansion of the Saudi economy.

Extending The Investment Scope

Building on the success of the Size Indices and IPO Index, the Saudi Exchange unveiled the TASI50 Index in September 2023. By providing investors with useful benchmarks, the Size Indices enable them to broaden their investment strategies and capitalise on particular market possibilities.

Investors can use the Tadawul IPO Index, which analyses the performance of companies listed on the Main Market over the last five years, as a benchmark to evaluate the success of Saudi IPOs and to make investments in startups that are expanding quickly.

These releases represent major steps in achieving the objectives outlined in Saudi Vision 2030’s Financial Sector Development Programme.

The post Saudi Exchange’s TASI50 Index: All you need to know appeared first on International Finance.

According to a statement released by Lumi, which is headquartered in Riyadh, the price range was established between 62 and 66 riyals per share, which would give the firm a worth of up to 3.63 billion riyals.

After a quiet summer, the Gulf initial public offering (IPO) market is expected to be put to the test by the share sale.

Seera is a Saudi travel firm that was originally known as Al Tayyar Travel Group. Lumi is an entirely owned subsidiary of Seera.

According to the prospectus for the auto rental company’s initial public offering, the company ranked itself as the third-biggest operator in the country in 2021, with a market share of approximately 7%, based on the size of its fleet.

In April 2023, anonymous sources told Reuters that Lumi had appointed Saudi Fransi Capital (1050. SE) as a financial advisor and book-runner as well as EFG Hermes as a book-runner to organize the sale of 30% of the company’s shares. (USD 1 is equivalent to 3.7510 riyals).

Meanwhile, the IPO of the Saudi drilling venture ADES, backed by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), was oversubscribed within hours of announcing the price range.

ADES, which seeks to raise as much as 4.6 billion riyals (USD 1.2 billion). The IPO is set to be Saudi’s largest offering in 2023.

The range has been set at 12.5 riyals to 13.5 riyals a share, valuing the company at as much as 15.2 billion riyals, according to media reports. The oil and gas driller is selling 237.1 million new shares in the offering, while its shareholders, Public Investment Fund, ADES Investments Holding and Zamil Group Investment are reportedly selling about 101.6 million shares. The total stake being offered is 30% of the company.

The IPO got oversubscribed multiple times throughout the range and within hours of opening books, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg News.

The PIF teamed up with the major owners of then London-listed ADES to take the business private in 2021, in a deal valuing the company at about USD 516 million. ADES, whose services encompass the region of Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has grown tremendously in the last two years, as it currently has a fleet of 85 rigs and operations across seven countries, including India where three rigs will be operating in 2023, according to the ADES’ website.

The venture’s major clients include Saudi oil giant Aramco, Kuwait Oil Company and Qatar-based North Oil Company, which accounted for over 95% of ADES’ backlog as of the 2022 end.

The post Saudi Aramco’s Lumi sets price range for IPO, eyes USD 290 million target appeared first on International Finance.

According to a statement released by the company, the total number of ordinary shares being offered remains constant at 750,000,000, or 10% of Al Ansari Financial Services’ issued share capital.

The qualified investor tranche has been decreased from 712,500,000 ordinary shares to 693,750,000 ordinary shares, representing 92.5% of the total number of shares on offer, down from the previously announced 95.0%.

The retail tranche will now be between AED 56.3 million to AED 57.9 million, or 7.5% of the IPO size, based on the previously disclosed price range of AED 1.00 to AED 1.03 per share.

The qualified investor offer will end on March 2nd, while the UAE Retail Offer will be closed on April 6th. Following these closing dates, a book-building process will be used to determine the final offer price.

Al Ansari Exchange is a successful trading venture run by the Al Ansari family. It was started in 1966 and now it is the largest branch network among exchange companies in the UAE.

Al Ansari Exchange was founded primarily to address the foreign exchange and remittance demands of its business partners and consumers.

The company was founded during a time when formal banking was not formed in the nation. As banking began to ostensibly develop and take shape in the middle of the 1960s, the company established its first branch in Abu Dhabi.

From there the company advanced quickly and became one of the biggest and most well-known exchange companies in the UAE.

In addition to being licenced and governed by the Central Bank of the UAE, Al Ansari Exchange is rated ‘5A1’ by ‘Dun & Bradstreet’, the highest rating level that can be obtained and signifying minimum risk and a high degree of credit.

Image Credits: alansariexchange.com

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National Investments Company participates extremely effectively and actively in a variety of industries in the local, Arab, and international markets. The secret to National Investments Company’s success is its ongoing commitment to adding value for its clients by providing distinctive and varied investment alternatives, generating above-average returns, and offering excellent customer service.

National Investments Company’s key principles ensure that they give their clients, shareholders, and staff fantastic success stories by ensuring that they are committed to and dedicated to serving them.

International Finance caught up with NIC who shared their insights about IPOs, public markets, and much more.

Excerpts from the interview:

International Finance: Why has there been a recent increase in interest in IPO from family offices in Kuwait?
NIC: For various reasons, Kuwaiti family offices have begun to seriously consider IPOs. These can be divided into the institutionalisation of family offices and the growth of the capital markets.

On the capital markets front, the promotion of family offices’ listings by Kuwait’s Capital Markets Authority and MSCI’s designation of Kuwait as an Emerging Market have made public listings an alluring value proposition. To emphasise the advantages of the procedure, Boursa Kuwait has also actively engaged with family offices. Additionally, the local equity markets’ exemplary performance and improved liquidity positions gave family businesses more convenience in the valuation aspect.

Family offices, on the other hand, attempt to achieve sustainability and partial monetization as they transfer ownership to the second and third generations of the family. They aim to diversify their income streams by implementing international corporate governance best practises. Listing on the Boursa Kuwait enables addressing these challenges and advancing their development into institutionalised entities.

International Finance: Are we expecting a lot of companies to list soon?
NIC: A number of businesses have declared or are thought to be getting ready for an IPO soon. This year, there has been a respectable amount of activity on the capital markets. The 11x oversubscribed IPO of Ali Alghanim Sons Automotive was successfully led by NIC. The idea that an IPO might be used as a tool for institutionalisation and partial monetization was supported by this transaction in a concrete way. In light of this case study, other family-owned companies are anticipated to submit an IPO application soon. These include the Al Mutawa family’s automobile company, Alghanim Industries, and other family businesses. Prospective investors can choose from a wide range of sector exposures offered by these organisations, such as consumer discretionary, food and beverage, logistics, real estate, technology, etc. We expect at least three or four large IPOs in 2023, subject to market conditions.

International Finance: What would you advise companies seeking IPO?
NIC: We frequently get requests from businesses looking to list or depart via an IPO. An IPO is a fantastic option for some businesses, but it is not a “one size fits all” answer. At the outset of the process, NIC invests a lot of time with stakeholders to understand their business strategy and IPO rationale. We examine closely the sources of revenue, the company’s financial situation, investor sentiment, related party transactions, commercially sensitive information that would need to be disclosed to the public markets, and valuation expectations. We only advise filing for an IPO after gaining a comprehensive understanding of the business. Pre-structuring before such a deal can be crucial, and getting the right vehicle ready for an IPO might take months or even years. The time and resource commitment required for such a transaction, both prior to and following the IPO, must also be anticipated by stakeholders.

In some cases, a trade sale (merger or acquisition) or a private transaction would be a far superior choice. Due to their ability to extract synergies and open up fresh prospects, strategic investors are frequently ready to pay a premium. It always depends on the stakeholders’ goals and ambitions.

International Finance: What is the role of a global coordinator in making the IPO a success?
NIC: The right combination of elements is necessary for an IPO to succeed. Planning ahead and having a solid grasp of the market’s dynamics and investor emotions are necessary for this. From the beginning, we collaborate closely with important stakeholders to position the business for success. The company’s valuation is one of the crucial elements, but it is not the only one. For example, compared to other markets, Kuwaiti retail investors place a significantly greater emphasis on price per share.

Additionally, important criteria include raising investor awareness (e.g., through roadshows and analyst coverage) and reducing investor pain points (e.g., by shortening the period between funding and listing). We always make sure that a diverse group of investors has been taken into account in order to create an initial demand for the IPO and maintain a high level of liquidity after the listing. We completely redesigned Kuwait’s subscription procedure for the last IPO in order to comply with global best practises. For instance, in order to make it considerably simpler for investors to subscribe to an IPO, we established the ideas of demand forms and provisional allocations.

Furthermore, in order to make the subscription process more accessible for potential investors, we closely collaborated with the Kuwait Clearing Company to digitise it. We and the regulators collaborated extensively to shorten the period between subscription and listing, resulting in the quickest listing after the subscription closed. These are a few of the elements that made Ali Alghanim Sons Automotive’s listing successful and contributed to the company’s good post-listing performance.

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Titled VistaREIT of Vista Land and Lifescapes is poised to allocate some of the company’s flagship commercial properties like offices and shopping malls across the country.

According to a Forbes report, the company will sell up to 3.66 billion stock shares with a price cap of 2.50 pesos each. The company will have a provision of 333.75 million shares for overallotments.

Shares for this REIT will be sold by VistaLand and its subsidiaries including Masterpiece Asia Properties, Manuela Corp., Communities Pampanga, Crown Asia Properties and Vista Residences. The plan is to list the REIT by June on the Philippine stock market.

A Reuters report said that this will make VistaREIT the seventh REIT in the country. The report further said that the trust will have two office buildings in Manilla and 10 shopping malls in the greater capital region with an aggregate area of 256,404 sq feet. According to the company, the buildings have an occupancy rate of 90-100% over the last three years as per a report by Philstar.

The company said that through the REIT, it wants to invest on a long-term basis, in a diversified portfolio of income-generating commercial real estate assets strategically located within Vista Land integrated developments or in key urban areas. The company aims to maintain high occupancy rates and quality tenants with a particular focus on those offering essential goods and/or services.

According to industry insiders, the Philippines is likely to have a bright future for REITs with five successful IPO launches in the pandemic.

Image Credit : gohighbrow.com

The post Philippine’s richest man wants to raise $176 million through REIT IPO appeared first on International Finance.

The parent company, which owns 66.5% of the Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA), had announced that the African entity will be listed in Euronext Amsterdam as part of the primary listing and in Johannesburg as a secondary listing. The other 33.5% is owned by Gutsche Family Investments.

According to reports, CCBA contributes to 40% of all Coco-Cola products sold in the continent and operates in 14 countries with a staff strength of 20,000.

The countries include South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, Mayotte, Comoros, Ghana, Botswana, Zambia, Eswatini, and Lesotho. The company operates 39 bottling plants and caters to 600,000 outlets across the African landmass.

The parent company is confident about Africa being a key geography for growth and is banking on the separate listing of CCBA to form a wider base of investors required for the further expansion of the business.

According to the company, the African segment is witnessing the maximum growth in the last few years compared to any other market across the globe. The company in recent years has seen a growth in sales of energy drinks in the continent and has a partnership with Monster.

Standard Bank Group, Morgan Stanely, and Bank of America Corporation are poised to be the advisors for the IPO.

Prior to the IPO, the company had held a virtual capital markets day overseen by Bank of America.

According to a South African daily, the listing will be the first of a beverage major since the delisting of SABMiller in 2016. The report said that CCBA is likely to be a hit following the trend of its predecessors in segments like Suncrush, Cadbury-Schweppes, and Amalgamated Beverage Industries (ABI).

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MTN Uganda CEO, Wim Vanhelleputte said that MTN IPO is officially open and the firm is offering 20 percent of its shares to its public.

Anne Juuko, Stanbic Bank CEO, told the media, “This is Uganda’s first…we’ll give you first priority.” He also added that after Ugandans, investors in East Africa would then be prioritised, then others from beyond the region. Stanbic owns SBG Securities Limited and is sponsoring brokers for the IPO.

MTN Group currently has 15 million subscribers in Uganda and also offers mobile money financial services. Last week, the company won regulatory approval to sell 20 percent of its shares to the public. MTN’s primary competition is India’s Bharti Airtel and its subscriber base could potentially earn a boost after a smaller rival, Africel announced its exit from the market.

MTN Uganda started operations in the east African country in 1998 with a 20-year operating license and secured a 12-year renewal of its licence in June 2020 after paying $100 million. One of the conditions to extend the license was to list at least 20 percent of its equity on the stock exchange within two years.

The company’s IPO will be the country’s biggest ever, and MTN Uganda’s shares will be a major boost to Uganda’s Stock Exchange (USE). It is also expected to raise almost double what Uganda’s capital market has raised since its inception.

The post MTN Uganda’s IPO official as it floats 4.5 bn shares at $0.06 each appeared first on International Finance.