After Waiting for Eight Years, Angolan Exchange to Get First IPO
After Waiting for Eight Years, Angolan Exchange to Get First IPO
(Bloomberg) -- Angola’s eight-year-old stock exchange can finally start trading equities on June 9. That’s when Banco BAI plans to debut after an initial public offering.
Two of the bank’s biggest shareholders -- state-owned oil company Sonangol and diamond producer Endiama -- will tender 10% of their shares in the IPO, according to the prospectus published on BAI’s website. The shares are set to be priced at between 17,200 kwanzas ($41.75) and 20,640 kwanzas, valuing Angola’s biggest bank at about $972 million.
The start of stock trading is the next step in Angola’s bid to lure overseas investors into Africa’s second-largest oil producer. The nation’s economy has been on an upswing after it exited five years of recession in 2021 and had its credit rating upgraded by Moody’s Investors Service. For Bolsa de Divida e Valores de Angola, or Bodiva, the nation’s past economic woes meant that it had to keep delaying the start of equities trading that was initially planned for 2015.
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President Joao Lourenco’s government has also embarked on an ambitious privatization program, which has earmarked 195 assets for disposal. Angola completed a program with the International Monetary Fund last year.
The nation’s gross domestic product is forecast to expand 3% this year, according to the IMF.
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