I am
– Guilty of having to get into an IPO queue after signaling a wavering of my IPO strategy (its political season)
– Guilty of waiting till the last minute; procrastination is a Kenyan habit, and the queues of Safaricom are very long in the last 24 hours, despite the IPO having run for almost a month. What were we waiting for? (and does Obama carry this gene?)
– Party guilty of not fully embracing technology: it’s actually possible to buy the shares without having to join a stockbroker queue if (i) you apply online at the official IPO site (which I did) but I did not (ii) attempt to pay via ATM for the same shares. IPO’s tend to run on a different cycle and I didn’t want to be time barred for a delay in funds
More on the official IPO site; it calls for a leap of faith like buying an air ticket online with boarding pass and successfully completing the flight. But the site does not seem to allow for any amendments (buy more or less shares or even cancel an order after you have applied.
And then I received this ominous e-mail from whoever runs the official site
To: ___________________
Subject: SAFARICOM IPO APPLICATION: PENDING PAYMENT
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008
Dear Sir or Madam,
Thank you for your online application for Safaricom IPO shares dated 4/__/2008 reference _______, in the name of ______.
Please note that the next stage of the application process is to make payment for your application at the receiving bank or broker that you selected, by the close of the IPO offer period on Wednesday April 23rd 2008.
If you have already made payment for your application, kindly disregard this email.
In the event of any queries, contact us via email at safaricomipo@swiftkenya.com or call us on +254 20 2754300.
Warm regards
Customer Service Team
Safaricom IPO at Citi
So let’s see how it goes in the last day of the IPO as I pay for the shares.
across the border: Stanbic Uganda, another over-subscribed IPO from 2007 performed even better than expected with a nice dividend of Ug. Shillings 6.64 shillings per share. Maybe I should try the Zambia Celtel IPO too