African countries (apart from South Africa) are set to place $7 billion of debt this year, buoyed by low interest rates and a huge global appetite. It is more than the previous 5 years combined and African capital markets are feeling the boom.
A major shift is coming in which investors, individual and institutional, will commit at least a portion of their investable assets to social impact and investing in harmony with their values, says Calvert Foundation..
Entrepreneurs running small and medium-enterprises (SMEs) in West and East Africa stand to benefit from a new $75m private equity fund. The announcement follows the news on 29 Jan that two long-term private equity partners – Jacana and InReturn Capital – are merging.
This week the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has joined the rush into providing boards for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with the launch on 22 January of the Growth Enterprise Market Segment (GEMS).
Kenya is stepping up corporate governance and the Capital Markets Authority has appointed a 9-member Capital Markets Corporate Governance Committee.
New giants are arising in African investments – the domestic pension funds. Several countries have funds worth billions of US dollars and in many they are growing at 25% a year or more. Handled well, they could transform local equity markets, exits for private equity and infrastructure investment.
Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) is pushing the development of the capital market through today’s (16 Oct) launch of a 16-member steering committee to formulate the Capital Markets Master Plan (CMMP) covering the next 5 years of development.
Leading African private equity group Actis has won the title for “Best Developer in Africa” in the 8th annual global Euromoney Real Estate Survey run by finance magazine Euromoney
World investors and debt-rating agencies should rethink criteria for evaluating political and other risk. “Risk is up for developed markets (DM) and down for Emerging Markets (EM)” was a key message from a Thomson Reuters conference in London on 18 September.
Uganda’s only power distributor, Umeme, said it plans to raise capital to invest in Uganda’s electricity sector through an initial public offering (IPO) on the Ugandan and Nairobi securities exchanges later in 2012
Kenya has licensed its first ethical fund, an Islamic fund issued by FCB Capital, a sharia-compliant investment bank, and aims to become the centre of Islamic finance in East Africa, calling for the set-up of a council to advise on Islamic finance products.
The first offshore company was approved to be listed for trading on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius. Evisa Investments Ltd, which has invested in Kenyan insurance, has a Global Business Licence Category 1, approved by the Mauritius Financial Services Commission.
The number of investors from other East African countries opening trading accounts at Kenya’s Nairobi Stock Exchange is still very small, but has grown more consistently in the last 2 years than other categories of investors.
FTSE has launched a FTSE-ASEA index with the African Securities Exchanges Association, which will help to unlock Africa an investment for larger portfolio investors. The index covers stocks on 16 exchanges and is adjusted for investibility, including free float and liquidity.
Aureos Africa Health Fund invested $2.5 million in a Kenyan hospital and health insurance company, the Avenue Group, which offers affordable healthcare cover, integrated with quality healthcare provision.
Reuters newsagency has put together stories on issuers’ and investors’ difficulties with African stock markets. These include lack of liquidity and sinking currencies. It notes that African companies are increasingly dual listing on international stock exchanges.
East African venture capital firm InReturn Capital has entered a partnership with Hurlingham Eye Care Services group (HECS). InReturn Capital is an impact investing company which aims to generate positive social impact and profits by investing in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in East Africa.
Mark Mobius, veteran emerging markets investor and head of Templeton Emerging Markets, is bullish about the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), although it is the worst-performing stock market in sub-Saharan Africa this year, according to the Financial Times.
Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority has drafted proposals on corporate governance and is waiting for approval so they can be gazetted and become law.
Mark Voss of fund manager Silk Invest foresees a turning point for the Egyptian market in a recent note. He also notes growth in Tunisia, with companies back to pre-revolution levels, tourism boom in Morocco, giant growth in Ghana and telecom payments innovation in Kenya.
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