Staff Reporter
Windhoek-The Directors of Letshego Holdings Namibia Limited (Letshego Namibia) have announced the successful result of the Initial Public Offering (IPO) that closed on Tuesday, and have confirmed that over 3 600 qualifying applications, valued at N$182 million, were received during the four-week share offer period.
Members of the public and non-institutional investors contributed N$40 million towards this total, with the remaining N$142 million being raised through offers from leading institutional investors. Post listing, Letshego Holdings Limited, the majority shareholder in Letshego Namibia, will reduce from 85 percent to 79 percent.
The official listing of Letshego Namibia took place on the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) yesterday. At listing, Letshego Namibia’s market capitalisation was at N$1.9 billion, which represents 6 percent of the NSX primary listings market capitalisation.
Commenting on this milestone achievement within the Letshego Namibia growth story, CEO Ester Kali said, “Our team has travelled more than 7 000 kilometres across Namibia to offer this unique investment opportunity to members of our community across 13 provinces. By listing, Letshego Namibia has achieved its objective to increase our local shareholding and demonstrated its commitment towards meeting the Government’s 2030 mandate for increased local shareholdings.”
Letshego Namibia’s unique share offer was named ‘Ekwafo Letu’, which means ‘support’, a term synonymous with the Letshego Group’s brand promise and commitment within all 11 markets across Africa. Over 75 000 people were empowered with knowledge and facts in fundamental financial skills and share investment opportunities. During the IPO period, the inclusive finance brand connected 180 000 people across its social media platforms, and recorded 21 000 active discussions around Ekwafo Letu’s offering.
Kali added, “Not only does our listing demonstrate our commitment to Namibia, but also our focus on delivering value to more than 3 200 PDN’s and companies who have invested in our future growth story. We wish to thank all our stakeholders, the public, companies and investors for their invaluable support and personal contribution. We look forward to a successful partnership as we expand our business and access to simple and appropriate financial solutions for Namibians who typically do not have access to banking products”.
Commenting on Letshego Namibia’s listing, Tiaan Bazuin, Chief Executive Officer of the NSX, added, “I am extremely pleased with the successful listing of Letshego. There has been a lot of talk about localisation in the Namibian market and this listing shows the best way, in my mind, to achieve this goal.”
Ekwafo Letu actively demonstrated the broader community’s appetite for learning more about platforms for investment, and interest in embracing financial literacy.
Kali affirmed Letshego Namibia’s intention to continue their journey of knowledge empowerment and ambition to increase financial literacy across Namibian communities.