THE initial public offer of the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) shares defied expectations by picking sh2.3b in oversubscription.
NIC, previously a government parastatal, sold the last 40% of its shares to the public yesterday. The other 60% was sold earlier to a Nigerian insurance company.
Individual Ugandans took 87% of the shares, worth sh7.1b, yesterday. Of the rest, 5% went to other East Africans while 8% went to foreigners from outside East Africa.
Sh8.1b was received from 2,289 individual applicants, 1,991 of them Ugandans.
Ugandans who applied for shares between sh90,000 and sh90m will receive their full share allocation, said Andrew Owinyi, the lead adviser in the NIC initial public offer, during the allotment announcement at Communications House.
Those who applied for over sh100m worth of shares will have their offer scaled down to sh95.3m.
David Ssebabi, the director of the Privatisation Unit, said the sale of NIC shares was another way for the Government to help citizens acquire a stake in previously state-owned firms.
“The process encourages widespread ownership and saving. We adhere to the objective that as many Ugandans as possible should have shareholding in these companies,” said Ssebabi.
The other surprise was the interest from Ugandan companies, who took 99% of the total corporate applications. Only 1% went to foreign corporations.
“We are very excited. A lot of people thought this market did not have the maturity. The market has come of age, it was not expected that institutions will come in big because it was a small offer,” said Ssebabi.
Owinyi explained that the share certificates will be ready by March 18, the same day refund cheques will be handed out through the different collecting agents, such as banks and brokerage firms. Trading starts on March 25.
