Ugandan businessman Charles Mbire to see net worth rise by $50 million through MTN Uganda listing

Ugandan businessman and Chairman of the Board of MTN Uganda Charles Mbire will see his net worth rise by $49.79 million as the Kampala-based telecom outfit prepares to go public.

Earlier this week, MTN Uganda set the selling price of a 20-percent stake in the company at UGX200 ($0.0558) per share, as the East African nation’s largest telecom operator launched the country’s biggest-ever IPO.

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) previously approved MTN Group’s plan to sell 20 percent of its shares in MTN Uganda to the public.

MTN Group owns 96 percent of MTN Uganda.

Mbire, who holds a four-percent stake in the company, said the listing reaffirms the company’s long-term commitment to expanding investment opportunities for Ugandans.

“The intention to float announcement is a major step towards delivering on our plan to list on the Uganda Stock Exchange, we look forward to continuing our engagement with the CMA and USE to take forward the IPO and the listing,” he said.

According to MTN Uganda, the IPO will set the parent company, MTN Group, on course to raise UGX895.56 billion ($248.94 million) from the 20-percent stake offered to the public.

Meanwhile, the Uganda-based subsidiary of the South African MTN Group is expected to derive a valuation of about UGX4.48 trillion ($1.24 billion) from the listing.

Mbire is predicted to see his net worth increase by UGX179.11 billion ($49.79 million) upon the listing thanks to his four-percent stake in the company, amounting to 895,561,770 shares.

With a valuation of $1.24 billion, MTN Uganda will soon join an elite group of companies in East Africa like Safaricom, Tanzania Breweries, Equity Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank and East African Breweries that are worth more than $1 billion.

MTN Uganda is Uganda’s largest telecom operator and MTN Group’s most profitable subsidiary in southeastern Africa.

The company generated R2.07 billion ($35.8 million) in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization for the group in the first six months of 2021.

MTN Uganda covers 97 percent of the country’s population through its robust infrastructure, which includes more than 6,000 kilometers of fiber connectivity connecting over 15 million subscribers not only within the country but across the world.

It also has 8.6 million active users on its MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) platform and 4.7 million active data users.