Nigeria

Capital raising

Top legal conference focuses on Africa infrastructure and natural resources deals

International Financial Law Review (IFLR) Africa Forum on 20 May to focus on innovative financing and M&A for resource and infrastructure investment.

Capital raising

Nigeria’s Abuja Commodity Exchange set for privatization

The Nigerian Government plans to privatize the Abuja Securities and Commodities Exchange by mid-2014, according to Arunma Oteh, Director General of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission.

Exchange news

Nigerian Stock Exchange seeks advisors for demutualization

The Nigerian Stock Exchange is looking for external advisers to drive its demutualization process.

Cote d’Ivoire

Top performances for USD investors at Africa’s stock exchanges

Malawi came out as Africa’s top-performing exchange to USD-based investors over 2013 with a strong 62.4% return. Eight out of 13 African exchanges beat the S&P 500.

Funds

DPI private equity fund raises $400m

A leading African private equity house Development Partners International (DPI) has reached the first close of its second pan-African African Development Partners II (ADP II) fund at over $400 million.

Exchange news

New York Institute of Finance launches Nigerian links

Nigerian stockbrokers are to build their expertise under a working relationship between the New York Institute of Finance (NYIF) and the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) on building capacity.

Cote d’Ivoire

$183bn of M&A in Africa in last 10 years, Britain leads

The total value of mergers and acquisitions deals in Africa by foreign investors was $183 billion over the ten years 2003-2012, up threefold on the previous decade. Britain was the lead investor with with 437 deals worth $30.5bn.

Kenya

Sub-Saharan African sovereigns outside SA to raise $7bn in fixed income

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.

Capital raising

Jacana merges with InReturn Capital, launches $75m private equity fund for SMEs

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.

Nigeria

IFC to issue $50m (NGN8 billion) Naija bond in Nigeria

The International Finance Corporation plans to issue a $50 million (NGN 8 billion) local-currency “Naija” bond in Nigeria to support the domestic capital markets and increase access to local-currency finance. IFC bonds are rated triple-A by Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s.

Exchange news

Africa’s bourses should work together to channel investors

Africa’s 24 stock markets should learn to work together better if they are to seize high levels of investor interest, said Nicky Newton-King, CEO of South Africa’s JSE Ltd. She told an interviewer that plumbing, – technology and other links between exchanges and clearing and settlement – were more likely routes to more liquidity than trying to create a single exchange.

Capital raising

Rise of pension giants set to transform investment in Africa

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.

Exchange news

IOSCO global regulator gives bigger role to emerging markets – 80% of its membership

The 86 emerging markets members of the world’s securities markets regulator, International Organization of Securities Commissions form 80% of IOSCO membership and are increasingly important in the global economy. They back setting up IOSCO Foundation, to boost funding so IOSCO can scale up research, education and training and technical assistance.

Exchange news

Nigeria’s SEC pushes for privatization listings, stockbroker consolidation and NSE demutualization

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission hopes to boost liquidity on the Nigerian Stock Exchange by getting previously privatized enterprises to list their shares and is progressing demutualization and higher standards for stockbrokers.

Exchange news

Falling yields mark a boom in Nigeria’s bond market

Volumes are growing in Nigeria’s bond market, boosted by inclusion in JP Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) from 1 October as Africa’s second entrant. the Debt Management Office said it received bids totalling NGN 1.7 trillion ($10.8bn) for Government debt in the 12 months to Sept 2012 and had issued a total of NGN852bn.

Funds

Africa’s best real estate developer is private equity group Actis

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

Exchange news

Securities Africa Financial is new name for Nigerian SE stockbroker

Pan-African stockbroker and financial services firm Securities Africa has acquired a Nigerian stockbroker, Skye Stockbrokers Limited. This week it announced a name change to Securities Africa Financial Limited and appointed Mr. Afolabi Folayan as Managing Director.

Kenya

Rerating of emerging and frontier markets debt risks will boost issues

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.

Exchange news

Nigerian Stock Exchange launches market-making today

Today the Nigerian Stock Exchange is to launch its market-making programme. This will be a hybrid process, with market makers offering 2-way (buy-sell) price quotes in selected securities and a continuation of the current process in which licensed broker/dealers of the NSE submit orders.

Exchange news

Nigerian Stock Exchange to roll out top-speed NASDAQ OMX trading platform

The Nigerian Stock Exchange says it will have the fastest trading system in Africa when it upgrades its trading to NASDAQ OMX Group’s X-Stream platform, with a target date of second quarter of 2013. The new system will handle a wide range of instruments.