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Jumia Technologies, the African e-commerce company, has filed for an unusual initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) weeks after its largest shareholder, MTN Group Limited, said it will divest its stakes.
This is even as this development may be considered as a snub to Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and Nigerians, the country that is largely linked to the success story and growth of the e-commerce company in Africa.
Jumia said it intends to take advantage of the growth of e-commerce in Africa to attract public investment, adding that this will help to raise funds and boost awareness as Internet access and smart-phone use increases. According to information obtained from the filing made on Tuesday, the company will trade under JMIA on the NYSE and would be valued at about $1.5 billion. “We intend to benefit from the expected growth of e-commerce in africa through the investments that we have made and the extensive local expertise that we have developed since our founding in 2012,” Jumia said in the filing. The public listing by Jumia is not the traditional IPO rather it is the American depositary shares (ADS) which is a U.S. dollar-denominated equity share of a foreign-based company available for purchase on an American stock exchange.
