Konga Seeks $3.5bn Value in New York IPO

• Konga Seeks $3.5bn Value in New York IPO

Konga, a Nigerian e-commerce group, is planning an Initial Public Offering on the New York Stock Exchange by 2020, which will see the business valued at $3.5bn, according to information gathered from sources familiar with the listing.

Analysts said the move, which might happen in the last quarter of 2019, would further shore up the potential of the e-commerce industry in Nigeria.

A stock analyst on the NYSE, Mark Jessey, hinted the strong possibility of a Konga IPO before the end of next year.

He said the news excited investors that had followed within the last eight months the huge strides and trajectory of the business after a transfer of ownership from Naspers and AB Kinnevik to Zinox, a Nigerian technology company.

It was gathered that Jumia, another e-commerce company in the country, is also planning an IPO in New York this year that could value the business at about $1.5bn.

Bloomberg reported last week that MTN Group, Jumia’s largest shareholder was planning to raise about $600m from selling its shares through the IPO, according to sources familiar with the listing.

Analysts said a successful listing of both Jumia and the MTN Nigeria could help MTN reduce debt, which increased to 69.8 billion rand in June from 57.1 billion rand at the end of 2017.

It was learnt that MTN had been weighing a listing or private sale of its shares in Jumia, people familiar with the matter said in August last year.

Other Jumia shareholders are Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated, Millicom International Cellular SA, Orange SA and Africa Internet Group, a venture backed by Goldman, MTN and Rocket Internet SE.

The Zinox Group acquired Konga after several months of negotiations with major investors, Naspers and AB Kinnevik.

As part of the acquisition, Zinox assumed ownership of the e-commerce group, which comprised Konga.com, an online mall; KongaPay, a Central Bank of Nigeria-licensed mobile money platform with over 100,000 subscribers; as well as KOS-Express, a digitally-driven logistics company.

Naspers, based in South Africa, is a broad-based multinational Internet and media group, offering services in more than 130 countries while AB Kinnevik, founded in 1936, is a Swedish investment company investing primarily in digital consumer brands.