Quality Chemicals, MTN Uganda coming to the market

June 23, 2018 in Business, Companies, Markets by Editor

June 23, 2018- The Uganda Securities Exchange could see major announcements in the near future as two of Uganda’s major corporate brands plan to make public share offers.

Luzira based joint venture CIPLA-Quality Chemicals Industries CIPLA-QCI, is at advanced stage of announcing an Initial Public Offer, while MTN Uganda is also considering mimicking the move of its sister operation in Ghana by finally opening up to  more Ugandan ownership.

Although nobody associated with the CIPLA-QCI IPO was willing to speak about the plans, the drug maker is understood to have appointed Renaissance Capital as its lead transaction advisor while Crested Capital is the lead sponsoring broker.

The CIPLA-QCIL joint venture which has been on the market for only ten years, operates a World Health Organisation certified pharmaceutical plant in Luzira that for now manufactures anti-HIV drugs as well as anti-malarials and formulations to treat hepatitis B.

The company that is said to be tying up the loose ends of its prospectus is looking at a 4 months window within which to roll out its share offer which makes a November date more likely.

Capital Markets Authority Chief Executive Mr. Keith Kalyegira declined to volunteer any information about the impending IPO but CIPLA-QCI’s listing will be welcome news for him as his tenure at the helm of the CMA has not seen a single listing.

www.256businessnews.com was not able to establish the size of the offer but CIPLA-QCI is understood to be building interest in its stock by speaking to a number of prospective investors in the corporate segment, notably pension schemes.

In other news, MTN Uganda which has been under pressure to open up its business to Ugandans, is said to be considering bringing more local stockholders to the company.  The company in which tycoon Charles Mbire is the only Ugandan participant with a 4 percent shareholding, has agreed to partially open up by admitting some of the more prominent pension schemes in the country.

MTN and CIPLA-QCI’s moves are likely to bring into focus the other companies such as Kakira and Kinyara Sugar Works as well as a couple of international banks from which the government divested during the mid-nineties with a condition that they would list atleast 20 percent of their stock on the USE whenever it came into existence.

Only Bank of Baroda has met this requirement while Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Kakira Sugar Works continue to avoid listing despite decades of profitability.

Kakira Sugar works refusal has irked many Ugandans with the resulting antipathy fueling opposition to its expansion plans that involve setting up a new sugar estate in northern Uganda.