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Smart telco applies to list on the Dar bourse again

Saturday February 10 2018
By MARYANNE GICOBI

Tanzanian wireless communications firm Smart has submitted its prospectus to the Capital Markets and Security Authority in preparation for listing on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.

This is the third time the firm, which holds one per cent of the market share, is submitting its prospectus. The previous attempts failed due to regulatory shortcomings, said CMSA public relations officer Charles Shirima.

“We returned the document to them because it lacked some regulatory requirements,” Mr Shirima said.

Apart from Smart, telecommunications companies Halotel ,Tigo, Airtel, Maxcom Africa Ltd and TTCL have had their applications rejected twice for failing to fulfil requirements for listing. Halotel filed its application for the third time last week and is awaiting the regulator’s word.

Non-compliance

According to the CMSA, the applications were rejected because of shareholding disputes, lack of transparency, failure to provide full information and regulatory technicalities.

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Tanzania requires telecom firms to have 25 per cent local ownership through a stock market listing, the government hopes the listings will bring more transparency.

If Smart’s application goes through, the company will be the second to list after Vodacom, a subsidiary of South Africa’s Vodacom Group, which listed last year.

Legislation compelling all telcos to float shares on the Tanzanian bourse was introduced in 2010. It remained inactive until 2016 when President John Magufuli ordered its implementation.

Vodacom Tanzania’s IPO was fully subscribed after Tanzania’s stock market regulator extended the offer period twice and allowed foreign investors to participate. The offer had initially been restricted to Tanzanians.

Last year, the company placed 560 million shares at Tsh850 each in the country’s biggest IPO, raising Tsh476 billion ($213 million).

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