Angola’s stock exchange, the Bolsa de Dívida e Valores de Angola (Bodiva), scored a huge success with the successful outcome of its biggest initial public offering (IPO). The share sale of Banco de Fomento Angola (BFA) raised 220.9bn kwanzas ($241m) after its shareholders, Unitel and Banco BPI, sold 4,462,500 shares in an offer from 5 to 25 September.

According to a Bodiva press release, it is the biggest African share offer IPO so far in 2025.

The shares were listed for trading from 30 September. Since then the share price climbed rapidly and scored 25% gains on both the first and second days of trading. By the close of 9 October, the BFA share price had more than doubled to 115,000 kwanzas (up 132%).

The offer had closed at 49,500 kwanzas ($54.08) per share, the top of the suggested offer range, after five times oversubscription. There were over 11,000 applications for shares, of which 10,133 were filled. Each shareholder received less than a fifth of what they had applied for.

BFA has added 8,488 new shareholders. Rui Oliveira, CEO of BFA Asset Management, commented: “The transaction was entirely anchored by domestic investors”.

Shareholder Unitel, a telecommunications firm controlled by the Government, had sold 15% of total share capital and raised 111.4bn kwanzas ($121.7m), as part of the second phase of the Government’s privatisation programme. Banco BPI, a Portuguese lender and a subsidiary of Spain’s CaixaBank SA, had sold 14.75% of the total shares and raised 109.5bn kwanzas ($119.6m) BPI. The European Central Bank had told Caixabank in 2017 to reduce its Angolan exposure.

Here are the Bodiva stock exchange announcements about the African share offer close and the new stock exchange listing (in Portuguese): Announcement 1 and announcement 2 about the listing.

Cristina Lourenço, President of the Executive Committee of Bodiva, said: “BFA’s listing on the stock exchange is a testament to what’s possible when governance, innovation, and commitment to the country are aligned. It’s also an invitation for more companies to professionalise, prepare and join this movement for transparency, growth and financial inclusion.”
After the share offer, the free float (shares available for trading) on Bodiva is around 30%. Unitel has 36.9% of the shares and BPI 33.35%, while 2% of the shares are reserved for BFA employees.

It is the fifth listing on Bodiva. In 2022, Banco Angolano de Investimento (BAI) raised 40.1bn kwanzas ($43.8m) through selling 10% of its shares in the first IPO. Three listings are expected in 2025.

State-owned giants Endiama (diamonds) and Sonangol (oil) are preparing for public offerings. The exchange expects to reach 10 listed companies by 2027. For more background on BFA and the Angolan Government’s ProPriv privatization programme see our previous story on the BFA share offer.