51% of Kinyara for sale

Nov 21, 2002

THE Uganda Securities Exchange Governing Council, the stock market operators, together with the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), the regulators, have approved the listing of 51% shares of the Kinyara Sugar Works Limited (KSWL) on the stock exchange.

By Stephen Ilungole
THE Uganda Securities Exchange Governing Council, the stock market operators, together with the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), the regulators, have approved the listing of 51% shares of the Kinyara Sugar Works Limited (KSWL) on the stock exchange.
Approval came after the Council’s 49th meeting on Wednesday, while the CMA endorsed the listing on Tuesday.
The CMA boss, Japheth Katto said yesterday, Government would retain 49%. “If Government decides to sell the 49% shares later, there should be a normal process to be followed. But ideally, all the 100% shares will be listed. That is the legal requirement,” Katto said.
USE’s Simon Rutega said in a statement yesterday, “The floatation of shares is expected to start in two weeks time, while the listing onto the USE is scheduled in March 2003.”
Sources however, said the retaining of 49% shares was a stop-gap move. “We had originally planned to list 100% shares. But because of political reasons, certain ministers fronted the Madhvani Group to buy 51% of the stake. But there was disagreement on a core investor. So to avoid the pressure, it was decided that Government retains 49% for another 12 months,” said a source.
However Katto told The New Vision. “We basically did our role of looking at the prospectus. Our approval means the prospectus meets all the listing requirements.”

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