Significant dates
24 July – IPO opens
12 Aug – IPO closes
4 Sept – Share allotment announcement
9 Sept – Self-listing ceremony

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the Nairobi Securities Exchange Limited (www.nse.co.ke) is open until 12 August. The NSE is seeking to raise KES 627 million ($7.14m) by selling up to 66,000,000 new shares (some 31% of the equity) at a price of KES 9.50 per share. The offer is open to domestic and international investors.
The IPO will culminate on 9 September with the self listing of the NSE on the Main Investment Market Segment (MIMS), making it Africa’s second security exchange after the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (www.jse.co.za) to demutualize and list itself.
Mr. Henry Rotich, Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury, said during the IPO launch ceremony on 23 July (see press releases here): “One of the key objectives of the Capital Markets Master Plan is to build on recent market reforms to address regulatory and institutional constraints in order to strengthen market infrastructure, intermediation, oversight and governance standards. The demutualization and self-listing of the NSE form part of the government’s policies to enhance governance standards and facilitate access to our markets by a wider community of investors. “
Mr. Edward Njoroge, NSE Chairman, said: “The success of our country and the region will be mirrored both in our market and our company, the NSE. We urge all Kenyans, and other investors both far and wide, to embrace this offer with the confidence that Kenya’s growth and future success will, in many ways, be accelerated through the development of our capital markets.”
The minimum number of shares available for purchase is 500 at a cost of KES 4,750.00 (approximately $54). Thereafter purchases are in multiples of 100 shares.
The NSE is celebrating its 60th anniversary and the demutualization and share offer have taken 5 years until the Capital Markets Authority approved all in June.

Is the NSE IPO a bargain? Analysis by Ryan Hoover

Ryan Hoover of the excellent Investing in Africa blog (www.investinginafrica.net) has published his analysis of the NSE IPO here, it is well worth reading. He looks at the NSE income and expenses in the prospectus, and shows that transaction levies (fixed at 0.24% of total trade value, i.e. 0.12% on each side) are the main source of income, earning the NSE KES 405m in 2013. He breaks down the baseline earnings to come with an after-tax figure of KES 0.80 per share, giving the offer a price/ earnings (P/E) ratio of 11.8x.
Since Kenyan bonds currently yield around 11% he looks at future earnings, noting that trading volumes are up 37% in the first half of 2014. Using a forecast growth in earnings per share of 20% he believes the shares could be worth KES 19.90 in 2019 at a P/E ratio of 10x (the JSE is on P/E of 16x) and adding in dividends at KES 0.25 per year (the current level adjusted for the IPO) he sees the potential annual return at 17.4%.
Check out his excellent blog, also for the discussion following the article, which points out that the offer is likely to be over-subscribed.