MTN Rwanda, a subsidiary of South Africa’s MTN Group, has On Tuesday, May 4 2021, listed on the Rwandan Stock Exchange (RSE). Rwanda’s Capital Market Authority (CMA), approved the company's listing by introduction with 1,350,886,600 (1.35 billion) ordinary shares valued at 269 R₣ ($0.27) per share.
Trading as “MTNR” MTN Rwandacell PLC will now be valued at roughly $364 million and should be a significant boost to Rwanda’s entire stock exchange.
Fully launched in January 2011, the Rwandan Stock exchange is relatively young when compared to its African counterparts like Kenya or Nigeria. The first company to trade on this exchange -- in the same month -- was Bralirwa (BLR), Rwanda’s largest brewery and soft beverage company.
In June 2011, the Bank of Kigali followed suit and seven other companies followed suit years later. MTN Rwanda’s arrival will take the total number of companies to 10 on the exchange.
Now, on MTN Rwanda: Rwanda’s Crystal Ventures, through a special purpose vehicle (Crystal telecom limited), owns a 20% stake in MTN Rwanda, while MTN Group owns 80%.
Note: Crystal telecom is currently a public trading company, and the CMA has approved the distribution of its 20% in MTN, among its shareholders. Meaning, those who have Crystal telecom shares, will now have a share of MTN.
MTN launched in Rwanda in 1998, and it dominates the country’s telecom and mobile money space. The company competes with the likes of Airtel, Rwandatell, and Liquid Telecom in the mobile space, and the Bank of Kigali’s Ikofi, in the mobile money sector.
Its listing process started in 2015 when Crystal telecom got a 20% stake in the telecom giant, and it’s part of a growing trend across Africa to improve local ownership of telecom companies. Tuesday’s successful listing makes its Rwandan unit the latest to list on a local exchange.
MTN Ghana and MTN Nigeria listed in September 2018, and May 2019 respectively, and it has a 2022 deadline to list on the Uganda Securities Exchange.
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Soon after its 2019 listing, MTN Nigeria instantly became one of Nigeria's most valuable companies, rivalling Dangote Cement for the top crown. Its arrival also boosted the Nigerian Stock Exchange's market capitalisation and the same could be seen in Rwanda as MTN's listing has boosted the RSE's market capitalisation from $3.6 billion to almost $4 billion.
