By Al-amani Mutarubukwa
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Shares of leading gold producer African Barrick Gold (ABG) will be traded on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) starting next month, enabling Tanzanians to own part of the company that operates four major mines in the country.

Trading in shares of the first mining giant on the nascent local stock mart will start on December 7 following approval of its cross-listing by the relevant capital markets organs.
Going by yesterday’s value of its shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), local investors will have to part with nearly Sh14,000 for each share they acquire.

ABG was formed early last year after being floated off by Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada to oversee and run its operations in Africa. Thereafter, it underwent an initial public offer in the UK and listed on the LSE in March promising to trade its stocks in the country when the right moment arrives.
Currently ABG operates only the four mines in northwest Tanzania, which are Bulyanhulu, Buzwagi, North Mara and Tulawaka.

The mining firm, one of the five largest gold producers in Africa, produced some 701,000 ounces in 2010 and targets to increase its existing production to one million ounces per year by 2014.

 “The process took long due to procedures to comply with the Capital Markets and Securities Authority (CMSA) and the DSE regulations. However, we are pleased to announce the listing of ABG’s shares on the DSE, which will commence on December 7 this year,” Mr Deo Mwanyika, the ABG vice-president of corporate affairs told reporters yesterday in Dar es Salaam.

He said the development was an important step in establishing a framework to promote broader liquidity for running the business and enabling ownership of ABG shares in Tanzania as part of the company’s long commitment to the country.

The sponsoring broker and dealer of the listing is Core Securities of Dar es Salaam. Core chief executive officer, Mr George Fumbuka, said the ABG shares would be sold and bought in the local currency on the basis of their value at the LSE on any trading time.

As of yesterday afternoon, the shares were trading at about 537 pence, which is equivalent to Sterling Pounds 5.37. At the official mean exchange rate of Sh2,601.5 per sterling pound on Thursday, that translates to about Sh13,970 for every share.

Prior to its listing on the LSE, ABG was a wholly owned subsidiary of Barrick, which continues to hold 74 per cent of the issued shares in the business today. The remaining 26 per cent stake, which is equivalent to 106.4 million shares, is held by ordinary shareholders.

“These shares are the ones that will now be available for Tanzanians to buy depending on the willingness of the investors to sell them on any particular trading time,” Mr Fumbuka noted.

Commenting on the development, the DSE chief executive officer, Mr Gabriel Kitua, said the listing of such a big mining company was a milestone in the development of capital markets in the country and a decisive move in boosting trading at the bourse.

The proposed cross-listing of ABG comes at a time when a number of local companies have recently listed or shown interest to list on the DSE, whose performance has been lacklustre since its establishment.

With the recent listing of Precision Air, the bourse now has 15 listed securities including five cross-listings in Kenya Airways, East African Breweries Limited, Jubilee Holdings Limited, KCB Bank and National Media Group.

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