Angola’s largest public share offering on record closed with demand outstripping supply by 120%, raising 300.3 billion kwanzas (approximately €300 million) for the state, as more than 11,200 new shareholders acquired stakes in telecoms operator Unitel at the maximum indicative price of 40,040 kwanzas per share.
The Angola Debt and Securities Exchange (BODIVA) announced on Monday, 27 July, that demand for the 7.5 million shares sold by the Institute for the Management of State Assets and Holdings (IGAPE) reached 9,054,299 shares — well in excess of the available offer.
Of the 17,549 subscription orders received, 16,571 were fulfilled, corresponding to 11,264 investors who have become new Unitel shareholders, according to BODIVA data. Results were determined at a Special Regulated Market Session held on the eve of the operator’s official listing on the Luanda exchange.
Physical and financial settlement of the transaction is scheduled for Tuesday, to be followed on Wednesday by the admission to trading of the entirety of Unitel’s shares on the exchange — the date from which the securities will be freely tradeable by investors.
The public offering (OPV) ran from 6 July to 24 July as part of the Angolan government’s privatisation programme (PROPRIV). It is the largest operation of its kind ever conducted in Angola, substantially surpassing the previous record, which was held by Banco de Fomento Angola (BFA) with an offering that had mobilised approximately 120 billion kwanzas.
Of the 15% of share capital placed on sale, 2% was reserved for company employees and the remaining 13% was open to the general public, at an initially indicative price range of 36,036 to 40,040 kwanzas per share. Strong demand throughout the process pushed the final price to the top of that range.
The impact of the operation was felt in the broader equity market even before results were published. Between 23 June and 13 July, virtually all companies already listed on BODIVA recorded share price declines, a movement analysts attributed to investors reallocating liquidity to finance their Unitel subscriptions rather than to any loss of confidence in the market. Insurer ENSA was the worst affected, with a cumulative decline of 18%, followed by Banco Caixa Geral Angola, which fell 14.5%. BAI lost 6.9%, while BFA and BODIVA itself recorded more moderate falls.
Unitel is Angola’s largest telecoms operator, holding more than 70% market share, serving over 21 million customers and operating for 25 years. It becomes the first company in the telecommunications sector to list on the Angolan stock exchange, joining a domestic equity market previously composed largely of financial institutions — banks, an insurer and BODIVA itself.
Prior to the offering, Unitel was held in equal parts by the Angolan state through IGAPE and by state oil company Sonangol, via its MS Telecom and PT Ventures subsidiaries. With the completion of the OPV, tens of thousands of Angolans transition from being purely customers of Unitel to also being its shareholders — a symbolic milestone in the deepening of Angola’s capital markets.
Source: Mercado / Original article: https://mercado.co.ao/mais-de-11-mil-angolanos-tornam-se-accionistas-da-unitel/
