Umeme share price flat on stock market debut

The share price posted a high of Shs295, before falling to Shs270, five minutes to the close.

Performance of past IPOs

Stanbic Bank
The Stanbic Bank IPO is so far the most successful in the history of Uganda’s equity markets. The share sale opened on the exchange with a massive price jump, moving from the IPO price of Shs70 to Shs240. The bank’s IPO, according to MBEA - the lead broker, registered a 200 per cent oversubscription.

Safaricom
The Safaricom stock price - although became turbulent after debuting on the NSE, opened at a high of Shs240 (Ksh8) from the IPO price of Shs150 (Ksh5). With a reported oversubscription of 500 per cent, the Safaricom IPO is arguably one of the share sales that have in the history of East Africa attracted thousands of investors. The telecom sought to raise about Shs1 trillion ($833 million) from the sale offer of a 25 per cent stake of the company.

NIC
National Insurance Corporation (NIC) opened its share trading at the stock exchange with the price shooting from Shs45 to Shs60. The price jump represented a 33 per cent gain on the IPO price, an admirable advantage for short term investors.

Facebook
The Facebook share sale hovered near the IPO price of Shs95,000 ($38) rising by 23 per cent at the New York Stock Exchange on its debut. The IPO made the social network more costly than almost every company in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Facebook sold 421.2 million shares on its debut to raise $16 billion, giving the company a $104.2 billion market value.

nkalungi@ug.nationmedia.com