The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) purchased 1.9 billion shares from the MTN Initial Public Offering (IPO), making it the second-largest shareholder in MTN Uganda.
According to results from the MTN Initial Public Offering (IPO), NSSF spent about Shs350b, to purchase the shares, representing about 8.84 percent of the total percentage shareholding in the telecom firm.
MTN opened the IPO on October 11 and it ended on November 22. A total of 4,477,808,848, representing 20% was put on offer by MTN International, which holds the majority stake in MTN Uganda. Each share was priced at sh200.
Results from the IPO show that only 2,902,003,800 shares out the 4,477,808,848 were allocated to investors.
A total number of 21,394 individuals and corporate persons participated in the IPO out of which 20,894 were Ugandan retail and institutional investors, representing 98% of the total number of participants.
During this period, over 74,000 SCD accounts were opened with the USE Securities Central Depository (USE SCD) growing the number of SCD accounts held by the USE SCD from approximately 38,000 accounts pre-I PO to 113,421 accounts to date.
“Thanks to the digital platforms put in place, the process of opening an SCD account, which is the starting point for any investor that wishes to participate in the market, was greatly simplified. The platform also eased the process of applying for shares. During this IPO, the growth of the investor base has been exponential, and we are extremely excited about what this represents for the market. We hope it will go a long way in spurring the secondary market activity,” said Paul Bwiso, the Chief Executive Officer of Uganda Securities Exchange.
A total of UGX 535.3 billion was raised during the IPO, representing 59.78% of the targeted amount of capital.
“The listing of the MTN shares will more than double the local market capitalisation currently at UGX 3.8 to UGX 8.2 trillion. Total market capitalisation will increase from approximately UGX 19.7 trillion to UGX 23.1 trillion,” Mr Bwiso said.
“When the market opens at 9.30am, Monday morning on 6, December 2021, USE will be proud to avail investors a new equity security linked to one of the fast-growing sectors in the economy,” he added.