(Ecofin Agency) – The Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM), the financial market common to WAEMU member countries, hopes to welcome 16 new companies to its listing by 2020, according to Bloomberg, which quotes Edoh Kossi Amenounve (photo), the institution's director general.
This development should be supported by economic growth in the sub-region, which is increasing companies' need for financing. Investors are expecting the arrival of NSIA Bank in 2017, which was already announced in 2016.
The BRVM also says it is in discussions with other state-owned banks, following the successful IPO of the Société Ivoirienne de Banque (Attijariwafa Côte d'Ivoire) and the surge in shares in Coris Bank International.
The Ivorian government formalized this Wednesday the decision to privatize its 10% stake in NSIA Bank. These 2 million shares will be sold to "public entities and the general public, via the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM)" at a price of 9,000 FCFA per share.
The decree issued by the Council of Ministers does not, however, specify the distribution of the shares between the two categories of shareholders concerned. Last June, the government had indeed expressed the wish to reserve 5% of these shares for the Conseil Café Cacao.
This privatization will thus mark NSIA Banque's entry into the sub-regional financial market. The subscription period remains to be specified, but there is no doubt that the operation should be very well received, the market having shown a strong appetite for the banking sector, as reflected in the recent successes of Coris Bank and SIB. And NSIA Banque has many assets to pass this new milestone in its development.
