Ecobank extends $2.5b IPO till Oct 31

Ecobank International Inc, the parent company of Ecobank Group, which has operations in Rwanda and Kenya, has extended it’s $2.5 billion initial public offer.

The move is meant to allow more regional investors to participate buy its shares.

The bank, which has operations in 24 countries, launched what was described as Africa’s biggest cross-border offer in August this year to fund the group’s rapid expansion across Africa.

However, the bank’s officials in Rwanda said the sale that opened on September 25 on three African stock exchanges has now been extended by a month and will end on October 31 in Ghana and Ivory Coast and October 17 in Nigeria.

The bank is currently listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the West African Francophone Countries-African Bourse in Abidjan, which serves the eight countries in West Africa’s CFA franc zone.

According to Clement Dodoo, Ecobank’s regional risk manager for East and Southern Africa, the bank has extended its offer of 3.76 billion shares to existing shareholders at $0.27 per share. The public offer is 5.12 billion ordinary shares at $0.29 each, payable in full on application.

Mr Dodoo said that Rwandans who were offered the opportunity to buy the bank’s shares through Ecobank Rwanda and other prospective investors in the East African region still had the same equal chance to access these shares within the stipulated time.

He added that interested East African investors have been called upon and advised to access shares through debit or credit cards, with which they can apply online.

“In Rwanda, if you want to access the shares, we take you through all the processes. But Ecobank Rwanda will buy the shares on your behalf,” he said.

“We are co-ordinating the IPO in the rest of the East African region. These shares are for our parent company — Ecobank Transnational Incorporated,” he added.

While there is still no law that regulates Rwanda’s over-the-counter market, Ecobank said a letter received from Kigali’s Capital Markets Advisory Council neither disapproved nor approved the participation of Rwandan investors in the Ecobank IPO.

In such IPOs, investors usually need to have had some basic approvals from their respective countries’ securities and exchange commissions.

Ecobank has also announced its intention to open a branch in Bujumbura by 2009.

The bank made its entry into Burundi by raising capital through Ecobank Group, acquiring 75 per cent stake in the Societe Burundaise de Banque et de Financement and acquiring a 25 per cent stake from the Burundian government.

The Togo-based banking group early this year completed its entry into the Kenyan market after acquiring a 75 per cent stake in mortgage financier East African Building Society (EABS).