Angola raises $321 million selling Unitel stake it seized from Isabel dos Santos

Angola has raised 300.3 billion kwanzas, about $321 million, selling a 15% stake in Unitel, the mobile operator it took from Isabel dos Santos four years ago.

The offer was the largest initial public offering in the country's history. The state sold 7.5 million shares at 40,040 kwanzas each, the top of the indicated price range, after demand reached 362.1 billion kwanzas. The subscription rate came in at 120.72%.

Angola's state asset management institute, Igape, accepted 17,549 orders out of 18,571 submitted during an offer period that ran from July 6 to July 24. More than 11,000 investors became shareholders in the country's biggest telecommunications company. Settlement was scheduled for Tuesday, with trading on the Angola Debt and Securities Exchange due to begin Wednesday.

A price on what was taken

The sale values Unitel at roughly 2.002 trillion kwanzas, about $2.14 billion, based on the IPO price.

That figure matters beyond the transaction. It is the first time a market has put a number on the company at the centre of Angola's campaign against the family of its former president. At the IPO valuation, the 25% stake nationalised from dos Santos would be worth around $535 million, by Billionaires.Africa's calculation.

The state took control of Unitel in 2022 by nationalising two separate 25% shareholdings. One was held through Vidatel and associated with dos Santos. The other was held through Geni and associated with Leopoldino "Dino" Nascimento, a former army general. Together the seizures brought half of Unitel under direct state ownership.

Isabel dos Santos is the daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos, who governed Angola for 38 years until 2017. She was once described as the wealthiest woman in Africa, with holdings spanning telecoms, banking, diamonds and energy in Angola and Portugal. President João Lourenço has spent his time in office moving against figures connected to the previous administration, and she has been the most prominent target. She has rejected the actions taken against her.

What investors bought

Unitel serves more than 21 million customers and is the dominant mobile operator in a country of roughly 36 million people.

It also owns 51.9% of Banco de Fomento Angola, which completed the country's first initial public offering in 2025. Buying Unitel shares therefore carries indirect exposure to one of the largest banks in the market.

The listing makes Unitel the first telecommunications company on BODIVA, an exchange previously dominated by financial-sector issuers. All 50 million of the company's issued shares are being admitted to trading rather than only the 15% sold, which means the full company will carry a public market price even though the state retains the large majority of it.

The privatisation push

The sale forms part of PROPRIV, the privatisation programme Lourenço launched to reduce state ownership across the economy, attract foreign investment and diversify revenue away from crude oil.

Progress has been slow. BODIVA has hosted only a handful of equity listings since its first flotation in 2022, and the exchange remains small by regional standards. Unitel was treated as the test of whether domestic and foreign investors would commit capital to Angolan state assets at scale.

On the evidence of the order book, they will. The offer cleared at the top of its range with demand exceeding supply by more than a fifth, in a market where most retail investors have never owned a listed share.

What has not been settled

The government has not said whether it intends to sell more of Unitel, or on what timetable. It continues to hold 85% following the offer.

Nor has the legal position around the original nationalisations been fully resolved. The shares now trading on BODIVA carry a history that predates the exchange itself, and the proceeds of Wednesday's opening bell flow to a state that acquired them by decree rather than by purchase.