[KAMPALA, UGANDA, Thursday 31st December, 2009] The Privatization Unit on behalf of the Government of Uganda and National Insurance Corporation Limited (NIC) announced the launch of the offer of NIC shares to the public on Friday, 31st December, 2009 at the Lake Room, Sheraton Kampala Hotel. In the interest of achieving its objectives of widespread public share ownership of business entities, the Government of Uganda is selling its 161,552,000 ordinary shares in NIC, representing 40% of the issued share capital of the Company. This IPO marks yet another milestone in the deliberate use of the divestiture process in Uganda as a core catalyst for the development of the Capital Markets in the country. The Government of Uganda has to-date privatized six (6) of Uganda’s successful public companies by way of IPOs. The companies namely are; – Uganda Clays Limited (UCL), British American Tobacco Uganda Limited (BATU), Bank of Baroda (U) Limited (BOBU), DFCU Limited, New Vision Printing and Publishing Company Limited (NVL), and Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited (SBU). This NIC-IPO follows a decision in June 2005 by Government of Uganda to sell 60% share holding in NIC to IGI, a top rated Nigerian Insurance Company, through a competitive bidding process. A decision was made then that the balance of shares (40%) would be sold to the general public. The public offer has been set at a subsidised affordable price of UGX 45 per share. The minimum purchase is 2,000 shares (i.e. equivalent of UGX 90,000), which gives an opportunity to ordinary Ugandans to participate in this divestiture. In recognition of their contribution towards the growth of NIC over the years, 4% of the issued shares has been reserved for the permanent employees of NIC at the IPO price. The plan to offer NIC shares to the public, which started in 2007, has taken relatively longer to complete, in order to allow for stakeholders consultations and total adherence to regulatory requirements. To this effect, all relevant approvals for the IPO including the Prospectus; have been secured from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and a No Objection from the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE). The official public launch of the NIC IPO taking place today marks the beginning of the Offer Period, which is scheduled to close at 5:00pm on Friday 05 February 2009. We encourage all investors to buy shares in NIC and become part-owner of one of Uganda’s more successful public enterprises. NIC is ranked amongst the top five insurance companies in Uganda. For more detailed information about the IPO, please contact the Authorized Selling Agents –Licensed Broker/Dealers and Receiving Bankers. David Ssebabi DIRECTOR PRIVATISATION UNIT -END- For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact: Jim Mugunga on: 0414-705600/1 or 0772-697-582, email: jmugunga@perds.go.ug, Josephine O. Aguma on: 077-2 825.263, +256-41-4 258001/5 email: jomunyidde@nic.co.ug NIC Abridged Prospectus NIC IPO Prospectus NOTE: In order to apply for NIC shares throughout the country, a completed Application Form, together with the necessary cash or banker’s draft/cheque or EFT slip, made payable in favour of “NIC – INITIAL PUBLIC OFFER ACCOUNT” in Uganda Shillings (UGX), should be submitted to any of the Authorized Selling Agents set out on the back pages of both the Prospectus and the Abridged Prospectus. Late applications will not be considered. Personal cheques will not be accepted |
