Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Plans IPO

With the main industrial index at 38 percent high this year, Zimbabwe’s Stock Exchange is planning to sell shares through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) by the end of 2013, the country’s Securities Exchange Commission has said.

The market value of shares listed on the bourse may nearly double to $10bn from the current $5.4bn over the next 12 months as it plans to start automated trading to attract more investors.

Bloomberg News reports that the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Tafadzwa Chinamo said this in an interview in Lusaka, the capital of neighboring Zambia, where he spoke at a capital markets conference.

An IPO might value the ZSE at $15m to $20m, he said.

Zimbabwe’s plans come as African bourses record some of the highest growth rates in the world this year.

The Ghana Stock Exchange, which began automated trading in 2009, has seen its composite index rally a global-best 47 per cent. Nigerian and Kenyan markets are among the top 10 best performers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The ZSE has appointed Imara Holdings Limited, the Botswana-listed investment bank, and Harare-based Corporate Excellence as financial advisers for its planned share sale, Chinamo said.

The move is different from a demutualisation, which is commonly done by securities exchanges, because the Zimbabwean government claimed ownership of the bourse since it was established in its current form in 1974, he said.