Rwandan public owns 42 percent of BK shares

Rwandans will own 124.7 million shares following the Initial Public Offer by Bank of Kigali. The figure represents 42 percent of the total 294 million shares floated. The 13 Qualified Institution Investors (QII) will get 10 percent of 74,638,100 applied for which was oversubscribed by 249 percent. Lawson Naibo, the Chief Operations Officer, Bank of Kigali, said the oversubscription shows of the high interest Rwandans have on the capital market business. BK targets to raise Rwf 37.5b to help in the expansion of the bank’s credit portfolio, expanding its investments and network. A total of 1,612 East Africans applied for 163 million shares and were allotted 55.5 million shares representing 18 percent of the total shares on offer. “Whoever applied for 50,000 shares or less was allotted all, but for those who applied for one million shares and above, 25 percent was allotted,” Naibo said. In an interview, Robert Mathu, the Chief Executive Officer Rwanda Stock Exchange, said that 5,194 applications were received, comprising 4,957 individuals, 224 employees and Directors, while 1,527 applications were received from retail East Africans. “There is high appetite, especially on the side of retail Rwandans, it shows the confidence they have in the bank and they are riding on the success of Bralirwa,” he noted. However, the QII East African institutions expressed more interest than local ones with 83 applications compared to 13 Rwandan institutions. “This is a good beginning for capital market development as well as mobilising for long term investments,” Mathu said. He added that; Oversubscription is not only unique to Rwanda. It happens to other markets and it can not negatively affect future IPOs.” He commended the allotment saying that it was in line with the EAC common market protocol where East Africans are treated the same in terms of share allotment. The value of shares allocated for retail Rwandans and QII is valued at Rwf 156 billion, while those of retail East Africans and EAC QII are set at Rwf 7 billion. The IPO is part of the governments wider strategy to implement its long-term privatisation plan, as well as facilitating the development of the capital market to increase alternative sources of long-term capital for business entities. The initial public offering is Rwanda’s second, after Heineken NV’s Rwandan unit, Brassieries et Limonaderies du Rwanda SA (Bralirwa), became the first company in the country to hold an IPO before its listing on the Rwandan Stock Exchange. Ends

National

Rwandan public owns 42 percent of BK shares