Rwanda’s government plans to sell its stakes in the country’s three largest companies.
Rwanda hopes to offload 10% of the local unit of mobile operator MTN, 20% of insurance company SONARWA, and 30% of brewer BRALIRWA, by the end of the year, government officials said on Monday.
The shares will be floated on Rwanda’s Over-The-Counter (OTC) bourse by the end of this year, said Robert Mathu, director of Rwanda’s Capital Markets Advisory Council. “The exact time scale depends on the preparations required,” he said.
“We’re appointing transaction advisors to process the transaction.” Finance Minister James Musoni said the government was completely divesting from the three companies. South Africa’s MTN holds the remaining 90% in the eponymous subsidiary; Nigeria’s largest insurer, Industrial General Insurance, is the majority shareholder in SONARWA; while Heineken holds most shares in BRALIRWA.
The move is part of the Rwandan government’s long-term privatization program, which began in 1996. Rwanda’s OTC bourse currently lists three government bonds, one corporate bond, and cross-listed shares in Kenya Commercial Bank.
Mathu said the decision to divest from the three companies would promote the capital markets. “This is extremely significant,” he said. “Developing capital markets will allow the private sector in Rwanda to mobilize long term savings.”
Meanwhile, an official at Kigali’s city authority said the council plans to issue municipal bonds worth $526 million over the next eight years to expand and build new infrastructure. “In the next 8 years, we project that the bonds will raise $526 million,” a Kigali City Council official that did not want to be named said. “We can start the issuance in the next two to three months, but we have no fixed date as yet.”
MTN Rwanda | SONARWA | BRALIRWA
Source(s): CNBC
