Nairobi Securities Exchange IPO

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) launched its IPO on July 23. It runs up to August 12, 2014 and they are selling 66 million shares at Kshs 9.50 per share (with a minimum investment of 500 shares costing Kshs 4,750) and the NSE plans to raise Kshs. 627 million (~$7.3 million).

Excerpts from the prospectus and other sources. 

• The NSE borrowed Kshs 300 million from Kenya Commercial Bank to part finance the purchase of the Westlands building that now houses the exchange. (The interest rate is minus 2 the bank’s base rate). Part of the funds raised from the IPO will be used to repay the Exchange's mortgage debt.
• The Dar es Salaam Securities Exchange has completely divested from the NSE and CDSC.
• The NSE has about Kshs 1 billion assets and an EPS of 10.70. They had earnings of 622 million and a profit of Kshs 262 million in 2013. The NSE owns Kshs 20 million worth of  Safaricom bonds and Kshs 15 million of Housing Finance ones
• The IPO is budgeted to cost Kshs 40.8M
• Ahead of the IPO in which 194 million (M) shares are being listed, the Kenya Government and the Investor Compensation Fund each own 6.56 million shares and 22 stockbrokers each own 4.08M shares - for a total of 128.6M shares. 2.5 million shares are reserved for employees of the exchange (The NSE  has 38 employees and 5 senior managers). 
• KRA assessed and charged them Kshs 19m for 4 years of back taxes, of which Kshs 15m has been paid
• One of the options the Exchange is contemplating is to establish regional exchanges in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan and Burundi 
• The NSE expects to introduce the REITs and ETFs, and there are also plans to introduce the a Derivatives Market this year. The NSE also plans to upgrade of the Automated Trading System (ATS) and the Bonds Trade Reporting System with some of the proceeds from the IPO.