The initial public offering launch by Jumia, the largest e-commerce operator in Africa, has been delayed by a day.
The IPO, initially slated for Thursday Apr. 11, will now happen on Friday, Apr. 12, Quartz Africa can confirm. The company had been expected to price its stock on Apr. 10 with the launch and trading set to follow right after. Jumia now expects to confirm its IPO launch its price on Thursday, with the launch itself scheduled for Friday, given the updated timeline.
Abdesslam Benzitouni, Jumia’s media relations rep, tells Quartz Africa the company moved the IPO as it “wanted to update the market with some numbers” for its first quarter of 2019 and so “a day is needed for them to digest.”
There’s an unexpected upside to the postponement though. As Uber, the global ride-sharing giant, is reportedly set to file for its IPO today, moving its launch will see Jumia inadvertently avoid being drowned out by what’s likely to be frenzied coverage of Uber’s offering. Uber’s IPO is expected to be the largest in the US this year and likely rank as one of the ten largest ever, raising close to up to $10 billion.
Whenever Jumia’s landmark IPO happens though, investors with a track record of backing e-commerce and internet businesses in emerging markets predict appreciable investor interest. Jumia, which will trade as “JMIA” ticker on the New York Stock Exchange, has set a share price range of $13 to $16 and is offering 13.5 million American depository shares for purchase with the company looking to raise over $200 million.
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