Tanzania -- Vodacom Group’s Tanzanian unit will begin an initial public
offering on Thursday, the first in a series of listings expected on the
domestic exchange that may spur mergers and acquisitions, MD Ian Ferrao said.
The company plans to raise 476 billion shillings ($213 million) in an offering
of 560 million shares at 850 shillings each, according to a prospectus issued
to brokers on Tuesday and confirmed by Ferrao. It expects to list on the Dar es
Salaam Stock Exchange on May 16.
Tanzania in June enacted a law requiring phone companies to sell at least 25
percent of their businesses to the public to boost local ownership. The
industry has more than quadrupled its subscriber base over the past decade to more than 40 million users, according
to the industry regulator.
Vodacom competes with Millicom International
Cellular’s Tigo, Bharti Airtel’s domestic subsidiary and Halotel, a unit of
Vietnam’s Viettel Group.
Read also: Strong rand weighs on Vodacom
By going public, transparency will improve as companies will be required to
publish their financial statements, Ferrao said in an interview.
The listings “will hopefully open up those opportunities by seeing where the
pressure points are and where the opportunities are,” he said by phone. “And
hopefully open up the conversation
for fair-value transactions, which may end up resulting in consolidation.”