ANGOLA may sell shares in Endiama, its state-owned diamond company, said Bloomberg News citing the country’s finance minister, Vera Daves de Sousa.
The disposal, which could be through an initial public offering, would take place at the end of 2021 or early 2022, said Bloomberg News. Angola was also considering selling shares in Sonangol, an oil producer.
The sale is part of a push by Africa’s second-biggest oil producer to raise cash and jump-start a moribund economy.
Angola has so far sold 30 companies through a program that runs through 2022. It’s currently selling stakes in an insurance firm and a commercial bank out of 195 assets earmarked in the plan.
“We are targeting the end of 2021, beginning of 2022 to start the process of the privatisation of the big ones, such as Sonangol and Endiama,” Daves de Sousa said at the Bloomberg Invest Africa virtual conference Tuesday.
The partial sale could be done through an IPO, she said. “But all this will depend on how fast we can reorganise those companies. To make sure that with the due diligence process we can capture the interest of high-quality investors.”
Daves de Sousa became Angola’s first female finance minister in 2019. She is also spearheading efforts to renegotiate Angola’s debt with its main lenders and implementing tough economic reforms that are part of her country’s $4bn to $5bn program with the International Monetary Fund.
