Mostly Safaricom: 2 days to IPO

Prospectus is out

but before that
- The Kenya Capital Investment Group has a nice post to guide Diaspora investors considering the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) for the first time
- Which broker to use for Safaricom? Check out the Business daily on Friday March 28 for a guide to stockbrokers – the good, the bad, and the rogue. Afrika investment bank is the newest (previously was Ashbhu Securities) I-bank now.
– beyond Safaricom I Co-op bank announces plans to list, which is a great overdue addition to the NSE
– beyond Safaricom II and if the Finance Minister is by chance short in his bid to raise money from the privatization process, I’ve always maintained that he should go after another prime company; Kenya Pipeline - with pre-tax profits of Kshs. 4 billion (and EPS of 163), ripe for a split and a listing
– loans for shares: Joining equity bank in offering 100% financing is family bank, oriental and national bank so far. I may change my stance on loans for shares if I see a bank with a clear policy of loan prepayment, in case say 80% of the cash is not utilized – so an investor is not left with a loan to squander, instead of shares to sell
- Investors will be able to use pesa point ATM’s to pay for IPO shares
- Housing finance signing with Safaricom’s M-Pesa for money transfer last week shows how traditional companies like Western Union have been overtaken by changes in the banking industry.
– Writing in the Financial Standard (Tuesday) Jonathan Somen, CEO of Access Kenya (the last ICT company to be listed) calls Safaricom a good short term buy as they have performed prior to the arrival of France’s Orange (formerly Telkom Kenya) and India’s Essar (through Econet)
– Africa Alliance has opened an IPO center in Nairobi - open from 7am to 7 pm
– DYK: You have to apply to use the Kenya flag on any product? Safaricom have received permission to use it on scratch cards, the Tea Board of Kenya to display it on tea packets, and Nike International (through their lawyers) to sell it on hooded jackets!
- Pay for mail; CDS will for the first time require IPO applicants to pay Kshs. 30 for mailing each confirmed allocation.