News and developments on African capital markets, includes: African securities, African stock exchanges/stock markets, African equities, African bonds, African private equity/venture capital, and African social impact investment
Nigerian regulator, the Securities & Exchange Commission, is travelling the country to build education and awareness. SEC Director General Arunma Oteh, SEC Commissioners and senior officials visited Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, for 4 days of meetings with stakeholder groups.
British American Investment Company (Kenya) Ltd launched its initial public offer (IPO) this week. It aims to raise KES 5.58 billion (US$62.2 million) for expansion. The offer is open until 5 August, and it to list its shares on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
West Africa’s Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres BRVM regional stock exchange is to move trading operations back to Cote d’Ivoire next Monday (16 May), after moving to Mali to avoid a violent political crisis.
Dr James Ndahiro, Chairperson of the Rwanda Stock Exchange, said East African countries should form a single stock market by 2015.
The JSE securities exchange has appointed an advisory committee to boost its JSE Africa Board to achieve its mission and attracet dual listings to a world-class stock exchange platform and help attract capital.
South Africa’s securities exchange the JSE Limited increased group revenues by 9% to R1,255 million ($178 mn) from R1,156 mn in 2009. Results were driven by strong performances from the cash equity market, information products sales and commodity derivatives.
African exchanges could grow dramatically in both market capitalization and turnover in the coming decade, following the explosive trends already charted by the Indian and Chinese markets. This was the view of Sunil Benimadhu, President of the African Stock Exchanges Association (ASEA), speaking at an African investment conference organized by stockbroker Securities Africa in London on 14 March.
The world is moving into fast consolidation of stock exchanges through mergers and acquisitions among the world’s giant exchanges. London Stock Exchange chief executive Xavier Rolet said: “In five years there will be three, four international exchange groups with global distribution capabilities”.
The Egyptian Exchange has again postponed its reopening and says it will only open when the strike-hit banking system gets back to normal. Dates mentioned include 20 or 22 Feb, and the bourse is likely to introduce rules to limit trading volatility. It closed on 27 Jan after a 16% fall in its EGX30 Index.
Cote d’Ivoire has formally reneged on $2.3 billion of Eurobonds, becoming the first nation to default since Jamaica in January 2010. The default comes after it was unable to pay $29 million of interest which had become due and after a 30-day grace period had expired. However, the market appears to have faith the crisis will eventually end.