Kenyans have a week to buy I&M Rwanda shares as IPO extended

Kenyan investors now have one more week to buy into the I&M Bank Rwanda public offering whose closing date has been extended to Friday.

The initial public offer (IPO), priced at Rwf90 (Sh11.05) per share, was due to close last Friday, but has now been extended to March 10. It opened on February 14.

Rwanda said the additional week will help local investors, including those from Kenya and the East African Community, apply for the bank’s shares.

“To ensure that prospectuses and application forms reach investors across the country and the East African region in good time, and in response to requests from retail and institutional investors  given the early start to the year, it has been decided to avail additional time to enable investors participate,” Rwanda’s Finance ministry said in a statement.

The Rwandan government is offloading its 19.81 per cent stake in I&M Bank and plans to spend the Rwf8.26 billion (Sh1.02 billion) raised in the offer to build an airport in Bugesera.

However, buyers of the I&M Bank offer will be locked out of the lender’s dividend payout for the full-year of 2016.

The subsidiary of Nairobi-headquartered I&M Holdings has proposed to increase dividend by nearly a fifth to Rwf2.32 billion (Sh287.37 million) and will only be limited to shareholders prior to the public share sale.

East African local retail investors – including Kenyans – have been allocated 24.7 million shares or 25 per cent of the total 99 million shares in the public offer.

Local investors can take part in the I&M Bank Rwanda public offering through Nairobi-based stockbrokers and investment banks with a presence in Kigali, including Faida Securities, African Alliance, SBG Securities and Renaissance Capital.