The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) is eyeing investments in regional bourses as it looks to supplement the revenue it earns from trades and data sales in the local market.
The bourse is now looking at investing in the Uganda Securities Exchange ( USE) once it self-lists at the exchange.
Investing at this stage in the bourse will give the NSE a potentially rewarding return down the road when these bourses grow in size, with the exchange, therefore, viewing these investments as being of strategic value.
“We are looking at investing in other exchanges in the region as they undergo demutualisation and go public….USE is not listed but has been demutualised.” NSE chief executive Geoffrey Odundo.
The NSE had initially acquired a stake in the Dar bourse when it rolled out an IPO in 2017, before selling it, and then returning back to purchase the 4.9 per cent stake.
Regional bourses have already attracted cross-listings from several Kenyan companies such as KCB, Equity Holdings, Kenya Airways, DTB, and Uchumi Supermarkets, boosting their relatively low home-grown listing numbers.
Locally, the NSE has invested in several subsidiaries over the years, including NSE Clear Limited, a company formed to act as a central counterparty in all derivative transactions. It also holds a stake of 38.5 per cent in the Central Depository & Settlement Corporation Limited, which provides automated clearing, delivery, and settlement of shares traded at the market.
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