Safaricom, the Kenyan mobile operator part-owned by Vodafone, saw its share price leap as much as 50 per cent during its first day of trading on Monday after it launched east Africa’s biggest initial public offering.

The surging price reflected excitement stoked for weeks by Kenyan bankers, brokers and politicians, and the fact that many investors received fewer shares than they wanted after the offer was nearly four times over-subscribed.