Telecommunication company Vodacom Tanzania has said that its initial public offering (IPO) has been fully subscribed.
The South Africa's Vodacom unit said it has raised its targeted $213 million (Tsh476m), with 60 per cent of Tanzanians taking up the offer and foreign investors buying 40 per cent.
The largest telco in Tanzania has since March this year struggled to sell all the 560 million shares on offer, forcing it to extend the deadline of the sale twice and open the IPO to foreign investors.
Vodacom floated a total of 560,000,100 ordinary shares, a 25 per cent stake in the company, trading at Tsh850 ($0.4) on March 9.
“Vodacom Tanzania is delighted that the IPO has hit the target of Tsh476,000,085 ($213 million),” the firm said in a statement, adding that: “It has attracted more than 40,000 Tanzanian investors, most of whom are first time participants in the capital markets.”
Foreign investors had been initially banned from taking up the offer.
Vodacom said it will list on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange on Tuesday August 15.
The IPO is part of the government’s laws that all telecoms operating in Tanzania sell 25 per cent of their shares to the locals.
Two other major telecoms operators, Tigo and Airtel, have submitted their prospectuses to the capital markets regulator and are awaiting approval for their IPOs.
