Airtel Uganda hopes to raise $216 million in IPO

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Airtel Uganda Ltd, a subsidiary of Airtel Africa plc, hopes to raise Shs 800 billion in an initial public offering (IPO). The company set the price for its initial public offering (IPO) at Shs100 per share and will offer up to 20% stake or 8 billion shares.

The IPO also fulfils regulatory requirements under which the company has to mandatorily list by 16 December 2023. The offer opened on August 30 and will close on October 13.

Airtel Uganda Limited has offered mobile telecommunications services in the country since 1995 and is currently the co-leader in the market with 49% revenue, and 47.3% subscriber market share, respectively.

The telecom company has 14.3 million active subscribers across 146 districts countrywide.

For the year ended 31 December 2022, Airtel Uganda had revenues, EBITDA and net income of Shs1,594 billion, Shs888 billion and Shs326 billion, respectively.

Airtel Uganda, previously Celtel Uganda Limited, launched the country’s first mobile cellular network in 1995. Following the acquisition by Airtel in June 2010, the business was rebranded as Airtel Uganda.

“The IPO gives preference to Ugandan investors, including the company’s customers, to own a share in Airtel Uganda and participate in its future growth. This is very much in line with one of our core values of customer-centricity,” Airtel Uganda Managing Director, Manoj Murali, said.

“We shall give 5 shares to retailers for every 100 that they buy,” added Hannington Karuhanga, board chairman, Airtel Uganda Ltd.

Absa Bank Uganda Ltd is the lead transaction adviser to the IPO, while Crested Capital is the lead sponsoring broker.

In 2021, MTN Uganda conducted an initial public offering on the Ugandan stock exchange, generating Shs535.94 billion.

This amount fell short of its initial target, amounting to less than two-thirds of the projected goal. The offering saw the allocation of approximately 2.9 billion shares from the total of 4.5 billion shares that were made available.

The company hopes to sell the remaining shares to hit the 20% threshold as per the new government regulation before the end of 2024.