The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) has emerged with a 28% stake in Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) after the telco’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) and subsequent listing on the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) on Friday.
The fund paid more than N$874 million for the shareholding based on the N$8.50 share price, which makes it the second single largest shareholder in MTC after the Namibia Post and Telecom Holdings (NPTH), whose stake shore up to 60% from the initially expected 51% after some shares were not taken up during the IPO.
The outcome is good news for the fund, which over the years had not hidden its interest in buying a stake in the country’s biggest mobile operator.
GIPF applied for a direct 25% stake in the mobile company during the IPO which was allocated and got an additional 3% shareholding through Namibia Asset Management, giving it a total shareholding of 28%.
GIPF’s GM: Investments Conville Britz confirmed the fund’s new shareholding when quizzed by The Brief. He, however, said the fund was not considering to increase its shareholding.
“At these levels of around 28%, I don’t foresee us increasing the stake,” Britz said.
It is also not clear if the GIPF will demand an additional board seat, considering its General Manager: Operations, Elvis Nashilongo is a board member of MTC and previously its board Chairperson.
The GIPF was among the institutional investors that had made pre-commitments to subscribe to a minimum of 282,899,160 shares worth N$2,4 billion, at a price of N$8.50 during the IPO.
MTC raised N$2.541 billion from a targeted N$3.124 billion from the IPO, now the biggest in Namibia and three times the size of the Standard Bank listing three years ago, which raised N$722 million.
Figures released on Wednesday show that 5611 applications were received for 299 045 261 shares out of 367.5 million shares on offer.
All 5535 applications from the public worth N$137.242 million were fully allocated, with 76 institutional investors allocated N$2.405 billion worth of shares.
The MTC share closed Friday’s trade at N$8.76 , giving MTC a total market capitalisation of N$6.57 billion.
