By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-East Africa’s first public owned oil and gas company, Swala Oil and Gas (Tanzania) Plc has given a price tag of 500 Tanzania shillings (TZS) per share which could value the company at 4.8 billion TZS in an initial public offering (IPO) which opened today June 09, 2014.
Reports made available to InvestAdvocate say the company has offered 9,600,000 ordinary shares which would be sold at a price of 500 TZS per share.
This is coming on the heels of approvals a week after the Tanzanian capital markets and securities authority (“CMSA”), making Swala Oil and Gas the first to do an IPO in the oil and gas industry in East Africa.
David Mestres Ridge, chief executive officer (CEO) of Swala said the company today is officially launching its IPO. ‘’This is a great step not only for Swala but also for Tanzania and its people. Investing in oil and gas shares is a means for economic diversification for any individual and it allows interested parties to own a stake in a fast growing business,” Ridge said.
“We are extremely grateful to the government of Tanzania, Tanzania petroleum development company (TPDC) and the CMSA for allowing us to become East Africa’s first public owned oil and gas company. On behalf of all Swala directors I would like to officially invite the public to invest in Swala Oil and Gas Plc,” he said.
Similarly, Abdullah Mwinyi, a director at Swala Oil and Gas said there has been a great debate on the need for local content in the booming oil and gas industry; ‘’we are delighted that today Swala would become the first oil and gas company to walk the talk. We strongly believe that Tanzanians should be given an opportunity to participate in the oil and gas business; this IPO opening allows them to do just that,” Mwinyi said.
The East Africa’s first public owned oil and gas firm said application forms and copies of the prospectus will be available online at Nihisa.com, at the offices of all licensed dealing members (LDM) of the Dar Es Salaam stock exchange (DSE), branches of CRDB Bank Plc and offices of Arch Financial & Investment Advisory Ltd.
The offer is open today Monday 09th June 2014 and would close on Friday 04th July 2014. ‘’There is currently no maximum subscription limit, but a minimum subscription of 100 shares per person is required,’’ Swala said.
