Millicom Tanzania Targets IPO as Ownership Dispute Settled

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Millicom International Cellular SA’s Tanzanian unit is targeting an initial public offering “in the near future” after a court ruled in the company’s favour in an ownership dispute, Managing Director Simon Karikari said.

Tanzania’s Appeal Court ruled in July that Luxembourg-based Millicom was Tigo Tanzania’s rightful owner, dismissing a case by Geneva-based Golden Globe International Services Ltd. and Quality Group Ltd. of Tanzania that laid claim to 99 percent of the company. The two told the court they acquired 34,479 shares in Tigo Tanzania’s holding company MIC Tanzania Ltd. in 2014.

“Tigo Tanzania is committed to meeting the IPO requirements set by the government,” Karikari said in an emailed response to questions, without giving details.

Under a law passed in 2010, Tanzania requires all telecommunication companies to offer at least 25 percent of their shares for sale through the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange. Bigger rival Vodacom Tanzania Ltd., the local unit of Johannesburg-listed Vodacom Group Ltd., is the only operator to have complied.

Africa Exit
The settlement of the ownership dispute paves the way for Millicom to press ahead with the Tanzanian IPO, the latest step in the company’s phased exit from Africa, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Matthew Bloxham and Tom Ward. The proceeds will probably be repatriated to Latin America to fund growth and acquisitions, they said in an Aug. 15 note.

The operator with two units left in Africa — Tanzania and Chad after disposing Senegal and Democratic Republic of Congo businesses — isn’t “long-term committed to the region,” Millicom Chief Financial Officer Tim Pennington said in February.

Tigo began operations in Tanzania in 1994 and is the second-largest mobile phone network with 12 million subscribers, or 29 percent of Tanzania’s voice market, according to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority. The company is seeking bigger shares of the data and mobile money segments, which it considers as having more potential for growth, Karikari said.

Tanzania’s data penetration is at 45 percent, according to the regulator, while smartphone usage is only 25 percent. “So, there still exists opportunities to grow value in the market by introducing more services in data as well as mobile money,” he said.

Besides Tigo, Tanzania is home to six other telecommunications operators including Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s local unit, state-owned Tanzania Telecommunications Co., Zanzibar-based Zantel Ltd. and a subsidiary of Viettel Global JSC, trading as Halotel. Azam Telecom Ltd. acquired a license in June to introduce an eighth operator.

Source: Bloomberg Business News