Mutual funds open door for foreigners eyeing Vodacom Tanzania’s IPO
Dar es Salaam — Two Tanzanian financial advisory firms are setting up mutual funds that will enable foreign investors to take part in Vodacom Tanzania’s initial public offering, which is currently only open to domestic buyers. The pair, Vervet Global and Orbit Securities, are following the lead taken by Core Securities. The offer for 476-billion shillings ($213m) of shares in the mobile operator, a unit of Johannesburg-based Vodacom Group, ends in nine days. "We already have one under way," Alpha Marwa, a partner at Vervet Global, a Dar es Salaam-based investment advisory firm, said by phone. "What this instrument means is brokers will establish funds like Core Capital’s, bring in foreign investors who can then buy stocks." Foreigners are barred from participating in the Vodacom offering because of domestic ownership rules. The IPO is Tanzania’s biggest so far, and while the Capital Markets and Securities Authority is optimistic that domestic investors will absorb all of the shares,...
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