Mwanza Community Bank listing at EGM delayed

THE listing of the Mwanza Community Bank at the Enterprise Growth Market (EGM) of the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange has been delayed to allow municipal and district councils in Mwanza Region buy shares in the newly established bank.

The Arch Financial and Investment Advisory which provides consultancy services to the bank says the listing of the bank at EGM had been delayed to the first quarter of next year to give room for the municipals to buy a stake at the bank after passing resolutions at full council meetings.

The company’s Managing Director, Iyen Jairus Nsemwa, told ‘Daily News’ that Mwanza City Council and Ilemela Municipal have already bought shares in the bank.

“After being advised we thought it was the best to give time for the other municipals to participate and in principal they have agreed… the process is on,” he said.

“Municipals hold meeting mid-next month (January). Our hope is that by end January the remaining municipals will buy shares of the bank.” He said the mode of the institution works best should municipals become shareholders to make the bank owned by Mwanza people.

He said it was of paramount importance for all municipals to become shareholders of the newly established community bank to drive home the true meaning of the institution. Mwanza, according to the 2012 census, has the population of 2.8 million people residing in seven municipals - Nyamagana, Ilemela, Kwimba, Misungwi, Sengerema, Magu and Ukerewe.

The bank was initially scheduled to list end of the last month (November) but the primary sale of share was pushed back because of the two-week kick off delay to December. Technically, the bank existence depends very much after raising the required capital by Bank of Tanzania at the tune of 2.0bn/- which will warrant getting a provisional licence.

“After raising the required capital and getting the provisional licence, then the rest including listing at EGM (Enterprise Growth Market) will follow,” Mr Nsemwa, who heads a company which is a leading advisor of the bank, said. Mwanza Bank is a brain child of Victoria SACCOs, which last year offered a 100 per cent dividend to its about 3,000 shareholders.

The SACCOs wanted to convert to bank and retains its name but decided to use other name in a different project. According to Tanzania Securities, stock brokerage firm, the bank anticipated to list December 13, where a share goes for 550/- per share at a lot of 100 shares.

The bank offered 5.0 million shares worth about 2.75bn/-, which is 88 per cent of the total shares on IPO, of which 600,000 have been retained by founder members. EFG is a new segment of the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange meant to facilitate long-term capital raising for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Country.

Source: Daily News, reported by Abduel Elinaza from Dar es Salaam