Kenya bourse sees first main-market listing

Bloomberg

Kenya’s Nairobi Securities Exchange expects its first main-market segment listing in more than three years to happen before end of December and boost activity on the bourse.
The All-Share index of the market valued at 2.15 trillion shillings has dropped 17% since January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“We have one application right now that’s being processed,” Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Odundo said in an interview. “It is for the main market segment.”
That will be the first major deal since 2018 when Bank of Kigali listed on the Kenyan bourse by introduction, and 2014 when the NSE itself did an initial public offering. The exchange has struggled to find listings as more companies preferred to raise funds from elsewhere and investment largely slowed.
The All-Share index of the market valued at 2.15 trillion shillings ($17.9 billion) has dropped 17% since January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Foreign investors, who account for more than half of trading on the NSE, sold some of their holdings amid uncertainty from the Aug. 9 general election.
The NSE is also talking with two other firms to join its Unquoted Securities Platform, which enables companies to access funding through private placements and restricted offers.
Odundo didn’t identify the companies for the USP and declined to say if the firm expected on the main segment will list by introduction or do an IPO.
“We could close at least one” case on the USP this year too, Odundo said. “We’re just waiting for them to conclude discussions with their transaction advisers.”
The exchange’s USP has two listings which were made in May 2021 by Acorn Investment Management Ltd.’s Acorn D-REIT and Acorn I-REIT real estate trusts. They have raised 3 billion shillings on the platform and have a rights offer due to close at the end of September, Odundo said.
“We’ve seen increased interest to raise additional capital,” he said of the USP. The platform in July had its first negotiated trade, when the buyer and seller bargained the price directly with each other.
The NSE also plans to introduce asset pledging, an offering that will allow investors to use their securities as collateral for loans, Odundo said.