The Chief Executive Director of MTN Uganda, Mr Wim Vanhelleputte, has asked Kenyans to invest in the telecom company’s shares in Uganda, saying it has a very good dividend policy.
Speaking during a virtual engagement on Wednesday, November 10, 2021, Mr Vanhelleputte said MTN Uganda has a proven track record of performance.
“The opportunity that we see for investors is to acquire shares in a telco company with a proven track record of performance, with over 23 years in the market.”
The move comes after Capital Markets Authority Kenya provided its ‘no objection’ for the MTN Uganda Initial Public Offering (IPO) to be marketed in Kenya.
The MTN Uganda CEO told Kenyans following the discussion via the Twitter space that their country already has adequate knowledge about the advantages of telecom companies listing on the stock exchange, giving an example of Safaricom.
“In Kenya you have a good idea (Safaricom) of what a good performing telco can deliver. We are operating in the same market, i.e, telco and fintech market,” he said.
He added that the MTN Uganda IPO is largely defined by its mobile money activity.
“The national Payment System Act that came into force in September last year required the telcos to create two structurally separate mobile money activity into a separate legal entity so MTN uganda created the MTN uganda mobile money company which is 100% owned by MTN Uganda,” he added.
“So the mobile money company applied and acquired a license from the Central Bank to run. Now the mobile money activity is a standalone business. Before we were running the mobile money activity under a No Objection through our escrow bank Stanbic Bank in particular,” he added.
MTN Uganda is currently conducting countrywide town hall meetings to create public awareness about its listing of shares on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE).
MTN is offering shares at Shs200 per share with a minimum order quantity of 500 shares which means Ugandans can become shareholders in MTN Uganda with an investment of as low as Shs 100,000.